A miracle and a blessing
by JForbes
Summary: Esme and Carlisle have received a remarkable gift, a baby boy. When he starts to exhibit his powers as a human they are forced to make a very difficult decision. AU. Read and Review please. Final chapter up.
1. Chapter 1

Rosalie Pov

I couldn't help but smile as Adam padded his way down the stairs wiping the sleep from his angelic eyes. He was our miracle; four years ago I never would have imagined how complete one person could make my entire family, all of us were so much happier when he was around. His blonde hair was sticking up in every direction which only added to how adorable he looked. His face lit up as he saw me sitting on the couch.

"Rosie!" He shouted as he picked up speed, in his favorite footed pajamas he didn't have quite the traction he was used to so it didn't really surprise me when he slid into the coffee table with a thud. I hopped to my feet and looked him over. "Stupid table" he grumbled and gave it a push trying to assert a little bit of dominance.

"Are you okay buddy?" I asked as I picked him up, he wrapped his arms around my neck and nodded. I smiled and ruffled his hair. "You shouldn't be running in the house, you know that" I laughed as he furrowed his brow.

"You run in the house Rosie" he complained. I tried not to smile, he did have a point.

"That's different" was all I could really say to him. He let out a frustrated sigh and narrowed his eyes at me, I let out a laugh; his pout was really cute. "Come on, let's get some breakfast" I carried him into the kitchen where Esme stood making French toast.

She smiled as I put Adam on the ground, he ran straight to her, sliding again on the tile floor. He ran into her legs at full speed thankfully she grabbed him before he hit the floor. "Adam! No running in the house, remember?" She scolded as she scooped him up.

"Maybe you should cut the feet off of those PJ's, he won't slide as much" I suggested. He turned to me instantly, his eyes wide as saucers; he looked as if I had just suggested decapitating his teddy bear. Esme ignored the suggestion as she sat him down on the counter and got a juice box from the fridge; he smiled and took it happily, quickly forgetting my comment about his PJ's.

It was only a matter of moments before Alice danced her way into the room. "Hey munchkin, you want to come shopping with me today?" She asked looking at Adam, he sighed. I knew he was planning on playing in the yard with the boys. Much to my surprise a smile crossed his face.

"It'll be fab-u-lous" He smirked, mocking Alice perfectly. A booming laugh was heard from upstairs, this mockery was clearly Emmett's doing. Alice looked a little hurt and Adam hopped down from the counter quickly, Esme tried to catch him, it being a good three feet drop. She let out an audible sigh as he landed and hurried over to Alice. He looked up at her, worried he had really hurt her feelings. "I sorry Alice" He hugged her legs "we go 'kay" he offered looking up for a signal of forgiveness. I shook my head as Alice's 'hurt' dissolved quickly. She used the fact that he couldn't stand hurting anyone's feelings to her advantage.

Alice Pov

I still remember the night that this adventure began. Esme and Carlisle were sitting on the couch together when we heard it, it was a gentle thumping, a heartbeat. Carlisle looked at Esme, confusion and shock on his face; we investigated where the sound was coming from for about five minutes. It was coming from Esme. The six of us stood looking to our 'parents' for some sort of explanation. They had none, Vampires were not supposed to be pregnant, plain and simple. It was nothing short of a miracle that Esme was. After Carlisle did some research we discovered that there was an ancient legend speaking of the child of two vampires, he or she, it wasn't very specific, would be incredibly powerful and he or she would be an embodiment of good. That's all the legend could offer us.

Five months later Esme gave birth to a perfect little boy. The debate about what to name him was a long one, it ended once Bella suggested Adam; he was after all the first. So Adam it was, Adam Carlisle Cullen. That was almost four years ago and Adam was such a blessing, he brought this family together in so many ways.

I smile as he hugged my legs. "We can wait and go this afternoon after you play with the guys" A large smile crossed his face; he was always incredibly happy, even as a baby he was all smiles. I could spend every moment of every day with him, but so could everyone else so I was forced to share, something Esme reminded me of frequently.

We all sat down for breakfast at the table while Adam ate. His meals had become family time, which he loved. He would tell us stories about his daily activities as he stuffed his face with Esme's cooking.

Emmett Pov

I waited with my brothers as Bella helped Adam change out of his PJ's and into some normal clothes. She'd been up there for fifteen minutes and I couldn't wait any longer. "Ugh…Bella hurry up" I called upstairs.

"Oh hush Emmett" she retorted as she came down the stairs carrying Adam. His hair was neatly parted and he was in jeans and a t shirt, perfect attire for the epic game of freeze tag we were about to play. Of course we couldn't really run as fast as we could, the poor kid would never catch us. He was fast though, a future football player I hoped.

We took him outside and began our game; it wasn't long before Adam caught up to Jasper and tagged him. He smiled broadly and explained that Jasper was frozen now. He quickly turned and started after Edward, unable to get his hands on Edward he turned and saw that Jasper was waving me over to un-freeze him. Adam narrowed his eyes, the way he always did when he got upset.

"Jasper! Freeze means no moving!" He shouted at Jasper, Jasper's eyes widened.

"Emmett, I can't move" He looked at me a bit panicked. I started to laugh before I realized he was serious. I called for Esme and Carlisle who were outside in a second.

"What's wrong?" Carlisle demanded.

"Jasper cheats" Adam explained with a serious nod.

"I can't move" Jasper cut in. Carlisle looked surprised for a moment before turning to Adam.

"Adam, buddy can you let Jasper move now, he is sorry for cheating, I promise" Carlisle looked to Adam who sighed; Jasper suddenly stumbled out of his frozen stance. Holy cow the little tyke actually froze him. I looked at Adam amazed, as did everyone else. Carlisle and Esme crouched down to Adam's level and explained to him that he couldn't freeze anyone anymore, by the look of concern in their eyes I knew they were expecting him to start exhibiting more powers shortly.

"He cheats!" Adam crossed his arms as he defended himself.

"I know sweetie but you still can't freeze him okay?" Esme smiled and ran her hands through his hair.

"Fine" he grumbled and looked at Jasper. "I sorry Jasper" he apologized half heartedly. We played for a little while longer, all of us making sure we stayed frozen when we were supposed to. Shortly before lunch time I took Adam inside to get cleaned up for lunch, his disappointment was evident when he saw that Rosalie was preparing a salad for him.

Esme Pov

Carlisle and I had spent the morning talking about how to make sure Adam's powers did not get out of hand, three years old is way too young to be able to control people the way he had controlled Jasper. It wasn't that I really cared if he froze one of us but heaven forbid got upset and froze someone in public. That sort of incident would bring way too much attention to our family.

Rosalie called Adam for his lunch but he didn't come running like he normally did. I waited about five minutes before making my way upstairs to investigate. I him laugh in Emmett's room, I opened the door and watch as he quickly stuffed something into his mouth and instantly pocketed the wrapper.

"Honey what did you just eat?" I asked as I walked over to him.

He swallowed it down quickly. "Nuffin" he explained and opened his mouth trying to show that it was empty. "See?"

I nodded. "Can you give me what you just put your pocket?" I asked with a soft smile. He looked like he was about to protest. "Adam, now" I said calmly. He grumbled and handed me a Twinkie wrapper. "Adam where did you get this?" I demanded.

"I boughts it" he offered.

"From who?" I looked at him. He looked between Emmett and myself. "Adam who did you by it from?" I asked again.

"Emmett" he sighed. I should have known, of course it had to be Emmett he was the only one that would give him such an awful snack.

"How much did you pay for it?" I asked him.

"I pay for it with a hug Mommy" he explained with an innocent smile. I rolled my eyes and looked to Emmett telling him we would discuss this later.

----

A/N - Please review I will only be continuing this story if it is received well.

I hope to be offering the other characters points of view as I go on.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

Thank you guys for reviewing. I didn't really give a lot of bask story so let me explain some stuff. Bella is a vampire in this I have set it as if she turned while she was still just 18 and is yet to have a child etc. It is set a few years after Bella has joined the Cullens.

I had not planned on writing this next chapter so soon but I'm bored and I have tomorrow off. Please Review, I like to hear what you think.

Chapter 2

Edward's Pov

We made our way downstairs for Adam's lunch. Esme was fuming over the Twinkie still; Emmett was going to be grounded for at least a day. I tried to suppress a smile as I thought about the multiple boxes of Poptarts I had hidden in my closet for Adam. Sneaking him junk food had become a bit of a game for Emmett, Jasper and I, even Carlisle kept some Reese's cups in his desk drawer for him.

_Eww, why does it have to be a salad_? I chuckled softly and smiled at Adam as he looked at the bowl in front of him. _You eat it Edward. _His voice filled my head, it was different than overhearing his thoughts; it was as if he was speaking directly to me. I stared at him for a moment before turning my attention to Alice, her thoughts being only of the afternoon shopping trip that she and Rosalie would be taking Adam on.

I watched as Adam began to pick at the pile of greens in front of him. He looked a lot like Carlisle, he had his hair and his smile but Adam's eyes were identical to Esme's except instead of being a liquid gold they were a deep blue. Esme and the other girls spent a lot of time trying to keep his blonde mop under control but he wouldn't have any of it, the second he got out of their eye line he would shake his head like a dog and let his hair lay naturally.

Bella smiled as well as she watched him eat, she knew full well he hated the salad but if that is what Esme and Rosalie wanted him to eat, then that was what he ate. They would need to leave for their hunting trip tonight, God how I hated when they left for a few days. I loved having more time with the guys but the house always ended up a mess, the last time all of the ladies left Emmett let Adam help make his own pancakes, Esme spent over two days getting the batter powder out of the grout surrounding her tiles.

I thought that when I found Bella my life had reached its peak, my happiness could never be matched but all of that changed when Adam was born. He was truly something special, he didn't smell like a regular human at all, he smelled like vanilla though and for some reason his smell never made any of us hungry. It wasn't that we were desensitized but it was as if we were completely immune to his scent. Even the few times he had bled from paper cuts and skinned knees, his blood did nothing to any of us. It was nice to know that we would never be tempted to hurt him like our instincts would suggest.

It didn't take Adam long to down the salad he was forcing himself to eat. He smiled as he finally finished and yawned. He needed a nap. _No nap!_ His voice rang out through my head again, how on earth did he know that was what I was thinking? I looked at him long and hard for a moment trying to get a read on him. I could always hear his thoughts but today it was as if I was only hearing what he wanted me to hear.

Alice smiled excitedly as he finished eating; she was ready to take him shopping. He looked at her for a few seconds before letting out another yawn; he didn't try to stifle this one though. I tried to suppress a grin as I realized he was trying to get out of shopping with Alice. It worked to. Esme stood from her chair and scooped Adam up. "How about you take him to the mall after he gets a nap?" Esme looked to Alice, who nodded in agreement. A big smile crossed Adam's face as he rested his head on Esme's shoulder. He had at least postponed what was sure to become an afternoon of dress up.

Carlisle's Pov

I tried not to laugh as I noticed Adam's grin as he was being taken up for his nap, he was never happy to take a nap, there were times he would come close to throwing a fit in order to get out of them. He wanted to be like his brothers, they never had to sleep. I got up from my seat and walked upstairs with Esme, just in case he tried to put up a fight over his nap. He was always such a restless sleeper though, tossing and turning all night. We had to put up a guard rail on his bed when he started falling out at night. My eyes wandered to the small scar through his eyebrow. It only happened a few months ago but he had rolled out of bed and smacked his head on his night stand on the way down. He cried for about twenty minutes straight that night.

It's interesting how you can think that your life is complete, until you bring a child into this world, I find myself unsure of how I was even remotely happy before Adam was born. He brought a sense of innocence into our home, many of my children struggle with the idea of being a monster. Not any longer, even Edward smiled all of the time.

I opened the door to Adam's room and stepped in, holding the door for Esme. Adam's room always made me smile; it was designed in a sports theme, something Emmett and Adam had picked out. There were footballs and soccer balls all over the walls. That's one of the many things I look forward to now, watching him play sports with other kids. I smiled as I looked up, Adam was fast asleep already, his arms wrapped around Esme's neck. Esme looked even more beautiful around Adam; it was as if she was glowing. I have never seen her so happy before in our many, many years together than when she was with him. Many nights she would sneak into his room and just watch him sleep for hours on end.

Esme's Pov

Adam slept right up until dinner time; I think using his powers must really drain him. Alice was of course disappointed that she could not take him shopping before we left for the weekend to hunt. We sat all together watching the news as we heard the thumb that was Adam jumping out of bed, or so we thought. We heard the thumping a few more times. What on earth was he doing, Alice let out a soft gasp as she saw what was about to happen. Rosalie and I were already half way up the stairs when we heard the crash followed by a loud scream for 'Mommy'. We both raced up the stairs and into his room.

I scooped him up swiftly into my arms as he started to cry, the guard rail Carlisle had installed onto his bed was on the floor. "Baby what happened?" I asked as I tried to look him over, he was clinging to me too tightly I couldn't get a look at his body. Everyone was upstairs right behind us, Carlisle let out a worried sigh as he looked Adam over. "Come on baby, what hurts?" I asked again. Between sobs he managed to say his arm. As he did Carlisle gently took his arm and looked it over.

"He needs to go to the hospital" Carlisle said softly, clearly trying to remain calm. Jasper on the other hand was looking as if he wanted to pass out. I finally got a look at Adam's arm as Carlisle examined it, it was broken, not compounded or anything but visibly displaced. Carlisle turned to ask Edward something but Edward was already gone, returning quickly with Carlisle's medical bag. Carlisle quickly prepared a small shot as Adam sobbed into my shirt. I looked at Carlisle cautiously and he explained it's a very small dose of a pain killer, just enough to make him more comfortable.

Adam didn't even notice as Carlisle gave him the shot, something he normally would have been screaming over. I gently rubbed Adam's back as we walked down to the cars that Emmett had pulled around to the driveway. Carlisle drove Adam, Rosalie and I in one car to the hospital, everyone else following in the Jeep. Adam stopped sobbing a few seconds after getting in the car. "What happened baby?" I asked him again. He looked up at me with those big blue eyes for a moment before burying his face into my shirt again as he said he was jumping on the bed. I sighed again and patted his back. "It's going to be okay sweetheart, I promise"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N – Thanks again for the reviews.

Coral86 – I don't think I'm going to write Renesme in, I'm not too sure though, we'll see.

Jasper's Pov

It's been just two days since our munchkin broke his arm; the girls had to push back their hunting trip though. None of us wanted to leave his side, which as you can imagine drove him nuts. It wasn't that he didn't love the attention, it was the fact that Esme was keeping him in bed. He was still in a lot pain but he wouldn't admit it. He wanted to be tough like us; he seems to forget that in a house full of immortals, he is still very human.

Thankfully the girls finally agreed to leave for their trip today, Carlisle also decided to go back to work. That means it'll just be us boys for the weekend. Esme had spent about an hour this morning before they left explaining to us the rules for the weekend. Adam was not to leave the house, it's a shame but we can still have plenty of fun in the house. He also had to take a nap every afternoon no matter what. We were also supposed to limit his physical activity, which was easy for her to say, she wouldn't be here to tell him no.

Adam had obeyed the rules for at least an hour after they left, which is longer than he's made it before. Emmett spent the morning running him around the house on his shoulders, something Adam absolutely loved. I smiled as they finally plopped down on the couch, Adam was giggling up a storm, which as always made me laugh just as hard. He rested for about five minutes before hopping to his feet and grabbing my hand.

"Come on Jasper lets bowl" he pleaded. Of course we didn't have a bowling alley in the house; he was referring to a game we invented a few months ago, sock bowling. We would set up things like stuffed animals or boxes and then run at them on Esme's wood floor, sliding on our socks to try to knock over the 'pins'. I sighed, this is exactly what Esme meant by limiting his activity. Esme didn't even know we played this game at all; she'd definitely kill us if she did. Adam loved it though and I don't think any of guys could say no to him at all, Carlisle could sometimes but unfortunately he was at work. We were putty in his hands and he knew it, I could feel it.

I smiled as Emmett nodded and got to his feet, taking Adam upstairs with him. As he did Edwards phone rang, he looked at his caller ID it was Alice, of course. She would normally have let her vision of us playing slide but Adam did after all have a broken arm. I watched as he answered.

"Alice, what are you talking about, he's right here in front of me. We aren't playing any game at all" Edward lied with ease. We could hear Alice on the other line, she was irate.

"Damn it Edward I'm serious, Esme will kill you, better yet I will kill you, he's still on pain killers for crying out loud."

"I know, that's why we aren't playing any games, I promise" Alice let out a sigh.

"Good, how's he doing anyway?" Alice asked as Emmett came back downstairs carrying a dozen or so stuffed animals.

"Come on squirt let's get a helmet on you" Emmett said stupidly not realizing Alice was on the phone.

"A HELMET?!" Alice bellowed. "Why on earth would he need a helmet if you weren't playing any games?" Edward glared at Emmett who apologized quickly. He spent another ten minutes convincing Alice we would not be sock bowling, she demanded to speak to each of us, even making sure Adam knew she didn't want us playing.

Emmett's Pov

Alice was such a kill joy sometimes. She wouldn't tell Esme what she saw though; she knew it would end up punishing all of us. I secured Adam's helmet and made sure it was in place, he smiled up at me once I finished.

"I go first?" he asked. I laughed and nodded. We moved the couch out of the way and cleared out a lane, Esme's hardwood floors made this too easy. Edward set up the stuffed animals in a triangle; we decided to play with 15 instead of ten to make it more difficult. Knowing we would be in a boat load of trouble if Adam did end up hurting himself we stood next to the pins when Adam went, making sure if he did trip that we could catch him.

He was doing just fine, he hadn't even stumbled once. During the tenth frame however he decided to get a longer running start. He hit his slide perfectly but this sock had started to come off. When the toe of his left sock got stuck he went flying, he was still a good 10 feet from us. All of us hurried to try to catch him before he hit the floor. Even with our vampire speed we weren't quick enough, we watched in horror as he put his arms out to brace himself. He came within inches of the floor before his body stopped; it was as if he was being held by invisible hands.

We all stopped and looked at him as he floated about 6 inches off the floor. He looked to us, his eyes wide. "Up! Up!" He finally shouted at me to pick him up, snapping us all out of our stares.

**A/N –** Sorry for the short chapter, I will be updating shortly. Just a heads up – things will start getting a bit dark, with all of those powers as a human Adam is going to start drawing the attention of other Vampires, those without good intentions….


	4. Chapter 4 Teaser

Edward's Pov

Wow, to have to be showing these kinds of powers at his age, he is going to a handful when he gets older. His shouting brought us back to reality and Emmett picked him up, looking him over before he sat him down on the couch. I sighed as my phone began to ring, Alice of course.

"Alice, he's fine, completely fine" I explained, not giving her a chance to yell at me.

"What? Edward listen to me, there is a clan coming for Adam." Her voice was full of fear.

"What do you mean coming for Adam?" I tried to get a few more details from her.

"Five of them, they want Adam for his powers. We are on our way back now, I don't know when they will get there though" I turned as I heard glass shatter, before I could even react I was face down on the floor.

**A/N – this is just a teaser, I hope to post the whole chapter later tonight.**


	5. Chapter 4

Emmett's Pov

"Adam go upstairs!" I shouted as I lifted him off the couch and put him at the base of the stairs before turning to face the five men that invaded our home. Edward got up from the floor and grabbed the man who had tackled him. I did not like our odds; there were five of them and only three of us. I growled before jumping on two of them. Jasper attacked as well.

Their leader managed to toss Edward through the window, glass went everywhere. I heard Adam scream and start back down the stairs. "Upstairs!" I shouted at him, the two I had jumped on now had me on my back. Big crocodile tears formed in Adams eyes as he hurried down the stairs. He jumped on the back of their leader, hitting him with his clenched fist. I watched in horror as the man shook him off, he fell roughly to the floor.

"Got him!" their leader looked down at Adam and bent over to pick him up.

"No touch me!" Adam screeched and their leader froze, unable to move. Edward jumped back into the room as I heard a car in the driveway. I sighed relieved, it was Carlisle; Alice must have called him.

Jasper's Pov

With Carlisle's help it didn't take us very long to kill the intruders. We formed a fire behind the house to dispose of the bodies. Carlisle was furious. Edward and Emmett were both very shaken; they'd never admit it though. Adam was terrified though; he hadn't stopped crying since he saw Edward get thrown through the window. His fear sent shivers down my spine, I'd never felt fear like this since becoming immortal. I attempted to use my power to calm him down, it wasn't working.

Carlisle took Adam inside to look him over. He sat him down on the couch and asked him if he was hurt. After about thirty minutes of examination, he determined that Adam was fine, just very shaken up. He had finally stopped crying though which helped.

"Where's mommy?" He asked with his lip trembling. The girls, damn one of us should have called them by now. I stepped into the kitchen and pulled out my phone, 10 missed calls, great. I called Esme's phone, she answered before the first ring even finished.

"Is everyone okay?" She asked panicked.

"Esme, everyone's fine."

"Adam?"

"He's fine, just scared" I explained. "Are you guys on your way? He's asking for you" I didn't want to admit it but I would feel a lot better with them home as well.

"We should be there in 20 minutes, give him a hug for me okay?" I agreed to and hung up the phone. Emmett and Edward were already cleaning up the glass from the floor, I did a survey of the damage. The coffee table was smashed and two vases had shattered on the floor. I sighed and started to help with the clean up.

Esme's Pov

Rosalie was driving like a bat out of hell. The Mercedes engine whined as she hit 150. I'm glad she could handle driving, my hands were shaking too much to even attempt being behind the wheel. I was at Alice's side when she had her vision, she saw five vampires all with violent red eyes, enter the house, in her vision they had managed to fight off the boys and take Adam. I have seen Alice have a lot of visions in the many, many years she had lived with us, none of them had ever hit her this hard. She was so upset that it took her five minutes to calm down before she could tell me what she had seen.

Those bastards wanted to hurt my baby. I was still shaking; part of me wished the boys had left at least one of them alive, just so I could kill them myself. The second the car stopped in the driveway I threw open my door and ran into the house. There he was, I let out a sigh as I saw my baby sitting on the couch next to his father.

"Mommy!" he called out when he saw me. His eyes were bloodshot, he had been crying. He got up and ran into my arms. I held him to me tightly; he started to cry as he buried his face into my shirt. He really was terrified. I gently rubbed his back and told him everything would be fine. I held him in my arms for well over five minutes before Rosalie cleared her throat. I turned and saw that Alice, Rosalie and Bella were all standing behind me, all of them wanting to hug Adam as well. I smiled softly and kissed Adam's forehead before handing him over to Rosalie.

**A/N – In chapter 5 I will be moving ahead a year or two, the attacks on the Cullen family only get worse as Adam starts to exhibit more of his powers. The Cullen's will be forced to make a decision that will change their family forever.**


	6. Chapter 5

Alice's Pov

It's been over two years since the attacks on our family began, they started off being somewhat manageable but they were only getting worse. Last night they managed to actually get their hands on him. They took off with him and got a few miles before we stopped them. The poor kid was so upset; the happiness that once defined his life had been replaced with fear.

I was lying on the couch with Jasper when the vision hit me, Adam appeared to be about ten years old but he was living with a little old lady. He appeared happy, and he was safe. I sat up quickly as the vision ended. Why would Adam be living with someone else?

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Jasper asked as he took my hand.

"I….nothing, I need to talk to Esme" I got up and headed upstairs, if my heart could beat, it would be pounding. I knocked on her and Carlisle's door. They stopped talking the moment I knocked. I opened the door and looked at them. They both looked very upset.

"What did you see?" Esme looked me up and down, being able to read me like a book. I explained my vision to her. "He looked happy?" She asked, the vision didn't startle her at all, they must have already decided to give Adam up, they wanted him to be safe and we couldn't protect him much longer.

"Yes, he looked happy" I sighed. "We have to give him up don't we?" Carlisle gave a sad nod. I didn't know how to feel about this, of course I wanted him to be safe but I wanted him with us. I want to be there when he grows up.

Rosalie's Pov

We just finished up our family meeting while Adam slept. We had to let him go in order to keep him safe. In a foster home or with an adopted family, he would be safe, safer than with us at least. It broke my heart, if I could cry I would be doing it right now. He deserves better than this. I sighed as I got up from the table; I walked upstairs and opened the door to Adam's room. He was curled up with "Yogi", his teddy bear. He looked so perfect when he slept. He looked peaceful; I could watch him sleep for hours. I can't imagine not being able to see this anymore.

When Adam woke up in the morning I took him downstairs for breakfast. Esme had prepared chocolate chip pancakes, his favorite. The boys packed up some of his things while he ate; once they filled a suitcase with clothes they loaded it into the car. When Adam finished eating Esme took him upstairs for a bath, during the bath she had a conversation with Adam about what would be happening. She explained to him that we would be coming back for him when things were safer.

He took things surprisingly well; he didn't argue and he didn't cry. We drove him into Philadelphia, we were now living in a small rainy town in Delaware, we moved about a year ago in a desperate attempt to throw off those who were coming for Adam. Saying goodbye to Adam was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. When Esme hugged him she promised we would be back for him, he trusted that completely. He nodded and kissed her cheek. "I love you Mommy" was the last thing he said to her.

Edward's Pov

It's been nearly four years since we said goodbye to Adam. Losing Adam tore our family apart. Jasper and Alice had to leave; Jasper couldn't tolerate all of our emotions. Not that I blamed him, part of me wanted to leave too. Its tough seeing the people you love being unable to smile, when Adam left he took every bit of joy we had with him. Esme's dry sobs could be heard throughout the house on most nights. Carlisle had taken on more hours at the hospital, having a distraction was keeping him sane.

I heard the car pull into the drive, Carlisle was home. I listened as he walked in the house. _He was supposed to be safe._ I jumped to my feet and met him at the door.

"What happened?" I demanded sharply, Carlisle's eyes looked so pained.

"Shh" He silenced me. _As I'm sure you know, I've been keeping tabs on Adam._ I nodded. Of course he was. _The woman he was living with was found dead, a heart attack. He's been declared missing, they have no idea where he is._

**A/N – I know I covered a lot of time in this chapter, bare with me, I will be slowing things down again for the next few chapters. In the next chapter we will be hearing Adam's pov for the first time.**


	7. Chapter 6

Adam's Pov

Things were tough when I was younger, I don't remember my family but I remember being told that they were coming back from me, I really wish I hadn't believed them. For years I refused to allow families adopt me, I told them all that my family was coming back. I bounced around in foster care before Mrs. Roberts brought me home. She was great, when I was with her I was happy, something I don't remember being any other time. I wish I could remember anything about my family, I have hazy memories of being dropped off at the orphanage, I couldn't remember their faces though, or their voices. I wish I knew why they left me and why they hadn't come back like they had promised.

When I came home and found Mrs. Roberts dead I had to make a decision, I could go to another home or I could leave. I left. I packed my back pack full of clothes, I threw in a teddy bear that I've had for as long as I could remember, I also grabbed the hundred or so dollars I had saved in a coffee can. I got on my bike and rode for hours, if I was going to avoid another terrible foster home; I needed to be far enough away that they wouldn't find me. When I finally stopped I was in a small town in the Pocono Mountains, the cost of living was really low which really helped me out. Thankfully it was the summer; it was warm but never sunny which I liked. For some reason I hate being in the sun, I don't really know why. There are a lot of things I don't know about myself.

The first week I spent in town, I slept outside near a storage facility; it wasn't that bad, it certainly wasn't ideal though. Things got better when Sean found me; he and his wife owned the storage facility. I refused to answer their questions about my past, I thought they would call the cops but they didn't. They offered me a room in their house. I kindly rejected their offer, I had made my mind up; I was going to live on my own. I couldn't stand to rely on anyone else anymore, I always ended up disappointed. Sean wouldn't take no for an answer, he was worried for me. He finally made a compromise, I could rent one of the storage units from him and he would let me live there. So that's what I did, I turned the 6 by 8 concrete room into my home.

-----

Carlisle's Pov

Giving Adam up was supposed to be for his well being, that's what made finding out he was missing so much harder. We figured someone had finally gotten a hold of him. They would have killed him, no doubt about it. I felt like there was always a knot in the pit of my stomach, it was only getting worse. I tried to not spend a lot of time at home, as much as I hated not being there for Esme, it was too difficult. Our daily routines became empty; the kids spent most of their time alone. We did very little together as a family.

About a year after Adam was declared missing, Jasper and Alice came home. It was nice to have them back but they weren't the same. The years passed slowly as wounds started to heal. It was a slow process but it was nice to see everyone starting to smile again.

Emmett's Pov

Our time in Delaware had come to an end; we had a few options for where to move to. We could go to London, we could go back to Alaska or we could find a place here on the east coast. Esme did some research, we found a town in Pennsylvania where the sun rarely shined, and there was also a large hospital in the town that employed well over 200 doctors. We looked into the schools in the area; we found a great prep school in the town. It looked great, it was a nice school and since its tuition was about 30 grand a year, there wouldn't be a lot of kids there.

We settled into the new house, with a month or so to spare before school started. Esme helped us select our courses; the average class size was about 10 which would be interesting. There were a lot of different courses which is nice, there was Drama, Art and Music; they also offered every AP class known to man. This would be very different then our experiences at public school. The school had a great sports program as well; they'd been state champions for 2 years. The only thing we were not looking forward to was the uniforms. I hated wearing a uniform, but I guess it could be a positive; we would not look any different than the others.

"Ready babe?" I asked Rosalie as I came out of the bathroom in my uniform. It wasn't too bad, just a blazer, tie and khakis. She smiled softly and messed my hair.

"Yeah let's go" She looked great in her uniform, hers consisted of a similar blazer and a skirt. She absolutely hated it though. We piled into two cars and headed for the school. The campus was so green, trees were everywhere; if I hadn't known we were in Pennsylvania it would be easy to confuse it with Forks.

I headed with Alice and Rosalie to our first period AP Chemistry class. The facilities here were great; really state of the art. I looked around the class taking in my classmates. They all seemed to be taking their academics very seriously but they also seemed very boring. A guy in the back caught my eye, his hair was an absolute mess; he needed a haircut pretty badly. He also looked really young to be in this class. I looked him up and down, his shoes stood out to me, they were incredibly beat up. If he was paying 30 grand a year to go to school you'd think he could afford a real pair of shoes. Whatever, I shrugged; I couldn't care less about this human's shoes.

Rosalie's Pov

Our first day went relatively quickly. There was one guy I had most of my classes with; I wish I had made an attempt to learn his name. He seemed really bright. I watched him as we came into the cafeteria. He pulled a banana out of his backpack as he sat with what appeared to be the popular table. I don't know why he was capturing my attention, maybe it was his messy hair, maybe his tattered shoes and uniform. He didn't fit in at all but that didn't seem to discourage him at all.

I didn't see him at all after lunch which was frustrating, I needed to find out this guys story, I don't know why but I needed to know. I looked for him at in the parking lot; he was nowhere to be found. I saw him the next day during class but he didn't say a word at all; he just sat in the back and copied down notes.

When I entered class on Friday it appeared as if we'd been assigned seats. I let out an audible sigh and looked for my name tag. It was on the center table, next to a name tag for someone with the last name Philips. The warning bell rang and the blonde boy made his way into the classroom. His face fell as he saw the name tags. He looked around the room for a moment before looking at me. His last name must be Philips, I smiled to myself.

He took his seat without saying a word. I bit my lip; I've never had a teenage boy ignore me the way he was. He was driving me crazy. I finally turned to him. "Rosalie" I introduced myself. A small smile curled on his lips. What was wrong with this boy?

"That's a nice name" He said softly. "I've always liked that name, don't really know why. My cat's named Rosie" he explained. "You're the first person I've met with that ….name" He stopped talking as the teacher walked in. He whipped out his notebook and began to scribble down every word the teacher said. I couldn't help but smirk, this kid was a big nerd. When the bell rang he got up relatively quickly. I followed him, I couldn't help myself I still hadn't learned his name.

"So, um Philips, what is there to do in this town on the weekend?" He looked at me for a moment and shrugged. "Football I guess," that's all he said before he hurried off to his next class. This guy was infuriating.

**A/N Things will be slowing down now I promise. In the next chapter Rosalie is going to try to find out more about her infuriating lab partner. **


	8. Chapter 7

Edward's Pov

I took my seat at lunch with my family, smiling as I listened to Rosalie's thoughts. She was furious with some boy that ignored her. She wasn't used to boys ignoring her and she wasn't handling it well. I took Bella's hand in mine as we chatted. She really liked this new school, I think we all did. The teachers were all very passionate about their subjects and there wasn't the standard caste system of popular kids and unpopular kids.

"We should go to the football game tonight" Emmett added out of the blue.

"Football really?" Alice looked at him like he was crazy.

"Yeah, they're apparently really good. State champs or something like that." He added. To my surprise Rosalie agreed. Alice finally gave in as she decided one football game wouldn't kill her.

We headed home after school, telling Esme and Carlisle that we were all going to go to the game. They thought it was a great idea, right before we were about to leave they asked if we would mind if they came too. Of course we didn't mind, both of them could very much use the distraction that the game would bring.

We got to the stadium, it looked like a college stadium; it was amazing. We got seats near the fifty and pulled out our programs. Rosalie looked through hers intently, a huge smile crossing her face. _There he is…Adam_, she read the name next to one of the players picture. I looked to her immediately. She handed me the program and pointed to a picture. Adam Phillips, his bio didn't say much, just that as a 15 year old sophomore, he was the youngest starter on the team. It couldn't be him, he did have blonde hair but a lot of people had blonde hair; at least half the team did.

Rosalie's Pov

I tried to bury my thoughts about my late younger brother as the game started, there was no way it could be him, I felt foolish for even hoping. I watched Phillips closely though, he was good enough to be playing on both the offense and the defense. I found myself cheering with the rest of the fans.

I watched Alice out of the corner of my eye as her eyes dilated like they did when she had a vision. It ended quickly. I heard her whisper to Jasper. "Thirteen is about to get his bell rung" she chuckled. Thirteen, that was him; I got to my feet and watched as he stood in the secondary, he played wide receiver and safety. He ran alongside a member of the opposing team, he made an easy interception but as he turned to run it back he was tackled from behind. The smashing of their helmet's together was audible throughout the stadium.

Even Emmett groaned painfully as the ball went flying. It looked as if it hurt like crazy, especially for a human. The trainers were at his side almost instantly. I watched in silence, as did the entire stadium. I let out a sigh as Phillips finally sat up, he pulled his helmet off. His blonde hair was a sweaty mess. Everyone clapped as he was escorted off the field by the trainers.

The rest of the game was uneventful. I didn't care; Adam was on the sideline, that's who I came to watch. When the game ended I headed down to the field, I walked straight over to Adam, I wanted to make sure he was okay. He smiled as he saw me; he had changed into his street clothes during halftime.

"Hey, how's your head?" I asked with a soft smile.

"It's good, just a little dizzy" He smiled even wider.

"You should go see a doctor, you probably have a concussion" I suggested, he was actually pretty friendly when he wasn't in class.

"Nah, I hate hospitals" He shrugged and grabbed his back pack. So damn stubborn, I mumbled under my breath. He looked up behind me he was starting to look a bit nervous; I turned as the rest of my family stood behind me.

"Um…Hi" He said awkwardly.

"Hey, you had a great game" Emmett said with a smile before whispering in my ear. "Come on what are you doing?" I shushed him before turning back to Adam.

"I'll uh see you later alright?" Adam said quickly before hurrying off. I glared at Emmett before huffing off to the car. I saw Adam again unchaining a bicycle from the bike rack. He threw his backpack over his shoulders and hopped on his bike. What on earth was this guy doing? Its pitch black out and he clearly has a head trauma, why would he be riding his bike? We all headed home in silence. The moment I got home I hopped in my own car and started back towards the school, he's on a bike; he couldn't have gotten far. It only took me about ten minutes before I found him; he was pushing his bike on the side of the road.

"Hop in let me give you a ride" I called out the window to him.

"What are you stalking me?" He asked light heartedly. "Its fine, I just live up the road. Thank you though" I looked at him and sighed.

"Come on, get in. I'm not taking no for an answer" He sighed as I pulled over and popped my trunk. I helped him get his bike into the back of my car. His bike was well over ten years old and the tires had been rubbed bald. He stumbled a bit as climbed in, he forgot to duck and his head slammed harshly off the molding. "Ouch" I groaned as I looked at him.

"When it rains it pours" he said softly, gingerly holding the side of his head.

"Come on, you really need to see a doctor" I plead with him.

"I can't go to the hospital, alright?"

"Why?" I demanded frustrated.

"I don't have insurance alright?" He snapped back.

"Oh" I looked down feeling like an idiot. "Well how about you let my dad take a look at you, he's a doctor" He looked at me for a moment a sighed.

"Fine"

**A/N – I know I've been updating like crazy, I've been in bed all weekend with a stomach bug and network television is just terrible. **


	9. Chapter 8

Rosalie's Pov

Adam stayed quiet during the ride back to my house. "You live here?" He finally spoke up as we pulled into the driveway.

"Yeah, why?" I asked with a smile.

"Nothing, it's really nice." He slowly got out of the car. I could tell by the way he was walking that he was really woozy; those blows to the head were really affecting him. He nearly fell to the ground but I grabbed him before he hit the pavement.

"Come on, let's get you inside" I tried not to smile as I helped him inside. The rest of the family was waiting at the door. Emmett looked upset but everyone else just looked concern.

"Rosalie, what's going on?" Esme asked as she looked at Adam.

"He has a concussion and he won't go to the hospital. Carlisle can you take a look at him?" I asked softly, everyone tensed up a bit. It's been years since there has been a human in the house. Carlisle simply nodded, everyone got out of the way as I led Adam to the couch. Carlisle got his medical bag and sat on the coffee table in front of Adam and started to look him over.

"Can you tell me your name?" Carlisle asked as he shined a small light into Adam's eyes.

"Adam Phillips" he said flatly. Thankfully he was being blinded by Carlisle; he didn't see everyone stare at him.

Esme's Pov

This couldn't be my Adam, could it? He's been missing for over four years now. I stared at his face, my eyes being drawn to a scar running through his eyebrow, just like Adam had received when he fell out of bed. I can't handle this. I walked quickly out of the room, Edward and Jasper followed. I headed into the kitchen and turned to them.

"I know what you're thinking but it's not possible, Esme" Edward said softly. "It's just a coincidence."

I sighed sadly. "I know; you'd figure that if it was, he would recognize us." Edward hugged me gently, I hugged him back tightly. I hated getting my hopes up like this, to me every blonde young man I had seen over the past ten years looked like Adam.

"What's your birthday?" Carlisle asked as he continued looking over Adam.

"Um…November 3rd" he sounded really unsure. Hearing that put every last bit of hope out of my mind, Adam's birthday was June 5th.

Edward's Pov

"You don't sound too sure" Rosalie added as she sat down next to him.

_Of course I don't sound too sure, that would require having a copy of my birth certificate. _I listened intently to his thoughts. Why wouldn't he have a copy of his birth certificate?

"Hmm? Sorry, its November 3rd, I guess I'm a little spaced out." I slowly made my way back into the room.

"Alright Adam, I think you should get a head CT, you have a pretty concussion" Carlisle said softly.

"That's um….not really possible, sir" Adam said politely.

"Why? I can drive you if that's the problem." Carlisle looked at Adam puzzled. _They don't treat you without insurance._ The voice in his head sounded so dejected, it made me really sad.

"I'm sorry I need to go." Adam stood up. "Rosalie can I get my bike from your car?"

"I'll drive you home" she offered, they were quickly out the door.

"What the hell was that?" Emmett looked to me.

"Language Emmett" Esme scolded.

"He doesn't have health insurance" I explained softly.

"He pays 30 grand a year to go to school with us but he doesn't have insurance?" Emmett looked just as confused as everyone else did. All I could do was shrug.

Carlisle rested his head in his hands and sighed. _It's him; that was my son._ I looked at him for a moment but didn't say a word; I couldn't, not in front of Esme.

Rosalie's Pov

Adam didn't say a word except the brief directions he gave me to his house. He got out of the car and got his bike; he thanked me for the ride and started walking down the block. I waited a moment before following him. I stayed a safe distance as I watched him walk pull a set of keys out of his backpack. He opened the fence surrounding an industrial storage unit. I waited until he closed the fence before scaling it behind him.

I watched curiously as he opened up one of the units. He smiled "Hey Rosie" he said as he bent down and picked up a small black and white cat.

"Is this where you live?" I asked as I came up behind him. He jumped about a foot and looked at me, his eyes full of fear.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded harshly. "Why did you follow me back here?" He looked really upset. I took a quick look inside the storage unit; there was a Costco sized container of Ramen noodles, a space heater and a hot plate. On the floor there was a wool blanket, a pillow and Yogi.

"Yogi" I said softly as I looked at his teddy bear.

"How the hell do you know the name of my teddy bear?" His eyes widened. "Never mind, please get out of here"

"Adam, you can't live like this" I looked at him.

"Get out of here! Please Rosalie, you can't tell anyone about this, I'll lose my scholarship. That school is the one chance I have to make my life better" he plead with me. The fear was evident in his eyes. "Just go!" I stared him down for a moment before walking back to my car.


	10. Chapter 9

Rosalie's Pov

I walked back to my car listening as Adam went into his storage unit and locked it from the inside. It hurt me to think that he was living in a storage unit, he deserved so much better than that. I drove home and hopped out of the car. Emmett was waiting in the driveway for me.

"What is that guys deal?" he asked me impatiently.

"It's Adam" I said softly. "He has Yogi still, I saw it" I explained.

"How is that possible?" He looked at me, still very unsure.

"I don't know but it's him. He freaked out when I saw where he was living, he's living in a storage unit Emmett, a storage unit" I emphasized.

"We have to go get him then" He said as we started to walk inside.

"We can't, not yet. He doesn't know who we are, it'll freak him out. He needs to trust us first" I added softly. Esme looked up at me as we walked through the door.

"Is he okay?" She asked barely above a whisper.

"He's fine" I replied softly. We spent the evening talking about how we would go about earning his trust. The consensus ended up being simply befriending him. If we couldn't do that we would have to try something else. I was amazed that after ten years we had found him again. As much as I was worried about his living conditions, he seemed fine and he seemed happy.

The weekend seemed to drag on forever; we got to school early on Monday and sat out by the cars. We talked amongst ourselves but really we were waiting for Adam. When the warning bell rang we all headed inside. A frown was plastered on my face as I sat down, he wasn't here. After about twenty minutes into the class, the door opened. It was Adam, his hair was a sweaty mess and he looked out of breath. He took the seat next to me and pulled out his notebook. I looked to him and started to speak. "I busted my tire up, had to run" he explained breathlessly. I nodded, the poor kid lives like 4 miles from campus. It took him about five minutes to finally calm down.

I sat through the remainder of the class without saying a word. When the bell finally rang, he got up quickly. I followed him out of the room. "Can I talk to you?" I asked softly. He stared at me for a moment before nodding. He walked into an empty classroom and held the door for me.

"Look, I'm sorry for shouting at you on Friday" he sighed "I just...you can't tell anyone okay?" He looked at me with his deep blue eyes.

"Adam I wasn't going to tell anyone, I'm worried about you though" He laughed when I said this.

"Don't waste your time worrying about me okay? Please, I'm fine I've been doing this for years." It broke my heart to hear him say this; he's been living in those terrible conditions for a long time. "I've got to go to class, I would really appreciate it if you kept what you know to yourself," with that he was out of the room.

I watched as he walked swiftly to his locker without even looking back. I sighed softly and walked over to Emmett. "Hey babe, what did he have to say?" he asked softly.

"I tried to talk to him, he ended up just emphasizing that he didn't want me to tell anyone about where he was living" I explained. Emmett just nodded and sighed.

Alice's Pov

I headed into my literature class, excited for the first time all year. I smiled as I saw Adam; he was fighting with his hair with a small black comb. I guess some things don't go away with age. The seat next to him was empty like always; I quickly took the seat. "Hey, I'm Alice" I introduced myself with a cheery smile.

"Um…Adam" he said softly. He looked pretty tired which was a shame considering it was only nine in the morning.

"Yeah, I know, you were at my house on Friday" I added.

"Oh yeah, I was a little out of it Friday. You're Rosalie's sister right?" I smiled at him, he was nice at least.

"Yeah, adopted sister" He looked down and nodded, that's when the teacher came in. I let out a sigh as he pulled out his notebook and started ignoring me. He didn't even look at me; not once. The second class ended he hightailed it out of there. I didn't see him again until lunch; Rosalie took the initiative and walked over to him.

"Do you want to sit with us?" She asked him.

"Who is us exactly?" He asked as he looked past her and over to his usual table.

"My family and I" Rosalie pointed over to us. He looked as if he was about to say something but Rosalie cut him off. "Come on, we're new here, we don't know anyone yet."

"Yeah alright" he walked with Rosalie back to our table. Everyone smiled happily as he took a seat. "Hi" he waived slightly as he looked at everyone. "There's certainly an awful lot of you, isn't there?" He smiled, his dimples showing; at that moment he looked so much like the brother I remembered.

Jasper laughed, "Yeah there is a lot of us." I took Jasper's hand in mine. He was clearly feeling how happy we all were that Adam was with us. I watched as he pulled an apple out of his bag.

"Is that all you're going to eat?" Bella asked as she looked at the apple.

"Not really that hungry I guess" he shrugged. We spent the lunch hour asking him pointless questions about the school and the town. We didn't want to come on too strong, we were all worried we would scare him. I couldn't help but beam as he animatedly answered our questions, it reminded me of his meals when he was a kid. I tried not to look too disappointed when the bell finally rang. "I'll see you later guys" Adam smiled as he walked off.

"How long until we can tell him?" Emmett asked impatiently. It was clearly driving him crazy to be this close to our brother but so far away from him at the same time.

"You can't tell him now Emmett, he doesn't trust us yet" Edward replied, the pain was obvious in his voice. Edward must have heard something in his thoughts.

"I'm inviting him over to work on our chemistry project tonight; Esme and Carlisle deserve to see him a little bit too." Rosalie said softly as she stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.

Rosalie's Pov

I caught up to Adam at his locker. "Hey, Adam do you want to get a start on that chemistry project tonight?" He turned around quickly, his head slamming off his locker. I tried to suppress a smile "Are you alright?" He groaned and rubbed the side of his head.

"Yeah I'm fine, you must be some kind of bad luck charm" he smiled at me. "What time tonight do" he stopped as some older guy, he looked about 18, grabbed my ass. I tensed up immediately; it would take me about two seconds to snap his wrist like a twig.

"You certainly got a hot one Phillips" he smirked as he started to walk away.

"How about you shut your mouth Lewis" Adam moved in front of me making an adorable attempt to defend me. He took a few steps toward him.

"What exactly are you going to do about it?" He challenged Adam; they must have some sort of history. "I was just commenting on that sweet piece of tail behind you" I fought hard to control the urge to hurt him.

"Show a little respect" Adam gave him a swift shove, nothing too hard, he didn't want to fight this guy that much was clear. Lewis had other plans; he pushed Adam into a set of lockers.

"Stop it, stop!" I stepped between them, glaring at this Lewis fool. Who did he think he was? I saw Emmett and Jasper out of the corner of my eyes; both looked like they were fighting the urge to rip Lewis limb from limb, which they are capable of doing. I didn't turn from him until he was out of sight. "Are you alright?" I asked as I turned around to Adam.

"I'm fine, I'm sorry about that, Lewis is a pig" I smiled softly, such a sweetheart.

Adam's Pov

I didn't understand this girl and to be honest it was driving me crazy. She wasn't into me, I knew that much; She was with the Emmett guy. I don't see her that way either, she was just really nice to me, that didn't happen to me a lot. Her whole family was super nice to me. It was pretty cool to see a big happy family like theirs; I couldn't help but feel jealous. I had a family once but they left me.

She worried me, she's going to end up trying to 'help' me and accidently ruin everything. Sean committed fraud when he signed my papers for school. He could go to jail and I couldn't handle that. The rest of the day was pretty much boring. I headed off to football practice when classes let out. Things went smoothly like always; when we finished I stayed after everyone left to get a shower, my storage unit didn't exactly have a shower.

Once I finished my shower I changed into a polo shirt and jeans that I was lucky enough to find at the Salvation Army. I combed my hair neatly; I actually stood a chance against it when it was wet. I smiled at myself in the mirror; I could be pretty good looking when I tried. I pulled on my hooded sweatshirt and walked out of the locker room and out to the parking lot. "You haven't been waiting this whole time have you?" I called out seeing Rosalie sitting on the hood of her car.

"Everyone else came out like twenty minutes ago. What's your excuse?" She smiled back at me.

"Wouldn't you like to know" I smiled and made my way over to her car, it wasn't the same car she had the week before. "How many of these do you have?" I gestured to her car.

"A few, come on get in" She laughed softly as she hopped into the driver's seat. "So how was your practice?" We chatted on the ride to her house. Her home was absolutely gorgeous; I tried hard not to feel any jealously. Going to the school I did was difficult; I knew I was getting a great education but everyone there had so much more than I did.

Esme's Pov

I watched out the window as Rosalie's car pulled into the drive. I tried not to gasp when I looked at him; he looked different than he did the night before. He looked so much like Carlisle. I felt nervous all of a sudden, I wanted nothing more than to pull him to me and hold him for hours on end. I couldn't do that though, that much I knew. When Rosalie told me that he would be coming over I went immediately to the grocery store. She said he only had Ramen noodles at his "home" and I wanted to make sure he didn't go to bed hungry tonight.

He smiled and gave Jasper, who was mowing the lawn, a wave before heading towards the front door with Rosalie. Carlisle came up next to me and took my and took my hand. I sighed softly, "He looks like you" I whispered to him.

"He still has your eyes" Carlisle whispered back. I smiled for one of the first times in years as Rosalie walked into the room, Adam at her side.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, it's a pleasure to see you again" he said politely as he looked at us.

"It's nice to see you again too Adam" I smiled even wider. "Rosalie, the kitchen table is cleared off for the two of you to work" She nodded and they headed into the kitchen to work. They worked for about thirty minutes before I walked into the kitchen. "Adam, Rosalie, would you like a snack?" I offered, I knew exactly what she would say but I was hoping Adam would say yes.

"I just ate, thank you though Mom" Rosalie smiled at me. She leaned forward to softly speak to Adam. "You should have something, I know that apple isn't keeping you full" He looked at her for a moment before nodding.

"That would be great Mrs. Cullen. Thanks" he smiled at me. I quickly fixed him up some apple slices and peanut butter, it was his favorite when little. I brought it over to the table; he looked at it and smiled broadly. "Thank you." I took my time as I straightened up the kitchen. I listened to him explaining a chemistry problem to Rosalie; he was really bright, just like his father. He quietly asked Rosalie where the restroom was before standing up, I smiled as he pushed his chair in, he was so polite. I watched him leave the room.

"Oh no" I said softly, I finally realized that I hadn't taken all of the photos down when Rosalie told me Adam was coming. There was a large photo of Adam with his teddy bear hanging on the wall outside of the bathroom. Rosalie followed me into the hallway; Adam looked suddenly paler than normal.

"Yogi" he said softly before turning to Rosalie and me.

**A/N – Long chapter this time, I couldn't figure out where to stop so I just kept going. In the next chapter, Adam will be demanding some answers.**


	11. Chapter 10

Jasper's Pov

Alice and I hurried down the stairs when we heard Adam mention Yogi. I joined the rest of my family behind Rosalie and Esme. This is not how we wanted Adam to find out. Rosalie bit her lip nervously as he looked at her. "Friday, you knew the name of my teddy bear, how?"

"Adam, we need to talk, okay?" Esme cut in.

He pointed to the picture on the wall. "That's my teddy bear, it was made in France and there were only a hundred of them made, only one was shipped to the US" his hand was shaking as he spoke. I cocked my head sideways; surprised he knew so much about Yogi.

"How do you know that?" Alice asked softy, just as surprised as the rest of us were.

"When it's all you have left, you look into it" he said harshly. He was so upset, it wasn't anger per say but he was definitely hurting. His emotions we're so heavy I almost couldn't handle it. He was able to read our surprise. "Is this me?" he demanded, looking to Esme this time.

"Yes, please Adam let us explain" Esme plead with him.

"Explain what? How you left me when I was five years old? Or how about how you promised to come back for me? That promise kept me from being adopted; I told everyone that wanted me that my family would be back for me." His words cut through us like knives. He closed his eyes for what felt like an eternity, when he opened them again there were tears in his eyes. He took in a deep breath, "I'm sorry, I have to go" he said softly. His pain made me want to curl up, he was hurting so badly.

Alice's Pov

I stared at Adam, I bit my lip; this is not how this was supposed to go. I held tight to Jasper's hand as a vision washed over me. When I regained my focus Adam was heading for the door. Emmett moved in front of him.

"Move" Adam said without looking at him.

"Emmett, don't" I said lowly, knowing Adam couldn't hear me, but Emmett stood his ground.

"Listen to us" he plead with Adam.

"Please move" Adam repeated, his breathing was becoming sharp, bothered.

"Emmett get out of his way!" I glared at him. Emmett still refused to move.

"Move!" Adam shouted he extended his arm to push Emmett's shoulder. Emmett flew backwards, slamming through the window. Everyone's jaw dropped; Adam never even touched Emmett. Adam's eyes widened. "Oh my god, what did I do?" he said to himself. He looked back at us, his eyes were both apologetic and fear filled. He took off out the door. Another vision washed over me.

"Rosalie, you need to stop him, he's going to leave, leave as in leave this town completely." I explained. He was heading back to his storage unit to get his few belongings.

Rosalie's Pov

Esme and Carlisle practically pushed me out the door after Adam. I looked around for a moment before hearing him in the woods, he was really moving. I sighed and started after him. He had already gotten a good hundred or so yards before I caught up.

"Adam stop!" I grabbed him gently from behind looping my arms around his waist to stop him.

"Is…is he okay?" He stammered out hyperventilating.

"He's fine, Adam calm down."

"I didn't mean to hurt him" his breathing only became more labored. He leaned forward placing his hands on his knees as he heaved. I sighed again as I rubbed his back, I was pretty sure he was having a panic attack. He finally stood upright, still struggling to control his breathing. He stood up a little bit too quickly and feinted. I caught him easily before he fell. I lifted him up with ease and started back to the house.

**A/N - It's short I know, I already have most of the next chapter done it just needs some fine tuning, it will be much longer I promise.**


	12. Chapter 11

Rosalie's Pov

I moved at top speed as I carried Adam back into the house, I sat him down gently on the couch and looked to Esme and Carlisle.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Esme asked quickly, her worry was quite evident.

"He started hyperventilating then he puked and passed out. I think he had a panic attack." I explained. Carlisle sped off to his office, returning with his bag. He pulled out a small packet of smelling salts and sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. It was only about thirty seconds before Adam sat upright, looking around dazed.

"It's alright, just relax; take a few deep breaths" Carlisle said in a soothing tone. Adam finally seemed to regain his clarity pretty quickly. He finally looked to Emmett.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry…I don't know what happened" His breathing started to become erratic again.

"He's fine Adam" Esme placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"The window, I" he took in a deep breath.

"Adam, stop. It's fine. That is not the first time that window has been shattered and it most certainly won't be the last" Esme looked to Emmett for a moment, a smile crossing his face. Adam looked around to everyone for a moment before bringing his attention back to Esme. "We need to talk to you okay? Please?"

"Okay" he whispered. I felt Jasper sending out calming waves; it didn't take long for Adam's heart rate to return to normal.

Jasper's Pov

"Adam, we didn't want to leave you, it was the hardest decision we ever made." Carlisle said calmly. Adam had started to finally get a hold on his emotions, which was a godsend. I focused all of my energy on keeping everyone calm, I didn't Adam to get spooked again.

"Why did you do it then?"He asked as I finally sat down in an armchair, Alice slid effortlessly into my lap.

Carlisle looked to Esme for permission to tell him everything, she nodded, her attention never leaving Adam. "Adam, I assume you've heard of vampires."

"Yes, of course I have"

"Okay well, we are vampires" he motioned to all of us.

"Yeah, okay" Adam let out a nervous laugh.

"Really" Emmett cut in.

"Prove it" Adam said quickly. Emmett got up and went into the kitchen returning with a fork; he made sure Adam could see it as he raised it up. "What are you doing? Don't do that!" Adam stood up, concerned. Emmett brought it down into his arm; the prongs on the fork bent and then broke. "Whoa" he said softly looking at Emmett amazed. "Wait, does that mean I'm a vampire too?" he asked confused, he had turned his attention back to Carlisle.

"No, Adam you're very much a human."

"But you drink humans' blood right? You're not going to drink my blood are you?" He tensed up again his heart pounding in his chest like a drum. "I'll be honest with you; I don't really eat very healthily. I don't think I'd taste very good" Everyone laughed as Adam said this.

"We would never hurt you Adam" Esme spoke up.

"Yeah, you don't even smell good to us" Emmett smiled.

Adam furrowed his brow and leaned his head down before smelling his shirt. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked sounding offended. I laughed loudly.

"It's like we are immune to your smell, Adam." Bella added, being the first to contain her laughter. "We also don't drink humans' blood, only animals."

Adam nodded; I was very surprised how well he accepted that he we were vampires. "Okay, so why did you leave?"

Carlisle took the lead. "When you were about 3 and a half you started to exhibit powers."

Adam looked like he was about to ask a question. "Like reading minds" Edward said quickly; clearly reading his thoughts.

"I could read minds?" Adam asked looking at Edward.

"No, you couldn't read minds Adam, Edward can read minds, Jasper can affect your emotions, and Alice can see the future. You had a lot more than just one power though. You could stop Edward from hearing your thoughts; you could also put your thoughts into our heads, sort of like telepathy. You also could control people's bodies, make them freeze in place." Carlisle explained.

"I can't do any of that" Adam said softly.

"You could, I'm sure you've just forgotten how. Throwing Emmett through the window is one of your powers as well I guess" Carlisle smiled slightly. "When you started to show your powers other vampires came looking for you. They attacked us almost continuously for two years. We even moved out here to try to keep you safe. It wasn't until some people actually got their hands on you that we decided to give you up for your safety." Adam nodded slowly.

"We're so sorry Adam, we just wanted to keep you safe" Esme looked at him taking his hand. Adam sighed, his lip trembling. He wasn't angry now though, he was feeling a combination of excitement and sadness. He looked at us for what felt like hours.

"So wait, are all of you related? Because I've seen you two making out," he pointed to Emmett then to Rosalie. "Frankly, it's sort of gross." Emmett roared with laughter.

"No, we aren't really related. Well, just you actually, you are mine and Carlisle's son" Esme smiled softly. "Bella is Edward's mate, Emmett is Rosalie's and Jasper is Alice's. We are very much a family though." Esme was still holding Adam's hand, which made me smile. Adam simply nodded and continued to look at us.

"You gotta say something man!" Emmett finally broke the silence.

"Emmett, hush!" Esme snapped at him.

"I'm sorry….this is just…a lot to take in" Adam looked embarrassed.

"You don't have to say anything Adam, ignore him" Esme said gently. I smiled feeling how comfortable Esme's voice made him.


	13. Chapter 12

Esme's Pov

I smiled as I watched Rosalie pinch Emmett's arm as an attempt to make sure he kept quiet. Adam's reaction so far has impressed me; he had started off incredibly upset, as I expected but the more that we explained to him the calmer he got. We all sat anxiously as he just looked at us. It had probably been about ten minutes before he looked back to me. "Okay, so where do we go from here?" A smile quickly crossed my face as everyone sighed, relieved.

"That's completely up to you Adam, nothing would make us happier than you staying here with us but that is of course up to you." I looked at him, if I could cry there would be tears rolling down my face.

He looked down for a moment, deep in thought; for once I wished I had Edward's gift. Another couple of minutes passed by before he looked back up, "I would like that, very much."

"Yes!" Emmett hooted. I looked around at my family, everyone looked so happy. I haven't seen smiles like that in ten years.

Adam's Pov

Everyone looked so happy. When my mother said she wanted me to live with them I looked around the room; I could tell that if I said no it would hurt them. I didn't think I could do that to them. I spent years trying to think about the reasons they had left me all those years ago but nothing ever justified it in my mind, until tonight that is. I am pretty good at reading people and they did not want to give me up, the pain in their eyes was clear. They wanted me to live with them; I smiled at the thought of it, I wouldn't be spending anymore cold nights in my storage unit. I think I'm actually going to even have a bed. My stomach suddenly rumbled it was loud enough that I could hear it. That's what I get for puking up the apples and peanut butter that was my dinner.

Emmett looked at me and then to Rosalie. "What the hell was that?"

"Language Emmett" Esme, my mother, scolded him.

"It's his stomach" Rosalie concluded.

"Adam, honey can I fix you up something to eat?" Esme asked with a sweet smile. That would be great, I was starving but that's something I'm used to.

"I'm fine" I said with a soft smile. I didn't want to impose upon them; I don't think they ate regular food.

"Liar" Edward said instantly; crap, he can hear my thoughts. I tried not to laugh as he nodded.

"Okay, okay, a sandwich would be excellent." I smiled. I felt surprisingly comfortable with them. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; they are my family after all. They were all incredibly good looking too. I felt almost like the ugly duckling; I felt so incredibly average in comparison.

"A sandwich is it then" My mother smiled at me and stood up from the couch. I followed as everyone else got up and went into the kitchen. We all sat around the table as my mother fixed up a sandwich.

"Adam do you mind telling us a little about yourself?" Carlisle asked; he looked nervous, as if he was afraid of me, I didn't want them to be afraid of me. I didn't want to play 20 questions tonight, I was exhausted but if they wanted to know about me then I would tell them. I felt an incredible urge to say yes to anything they asked of me.

"Yeah, alright; well as you know I'm 15, I go to school with Rosalie and everyone. "

"How can you afford to pay the tuition?" Alice spoke up, her voice was phenomenally sweet.

"Full academic scholarship" I smiled, I was sort of proud of that.

"Wow, so you like school?" Esme asked as she placed a delicious looking sandwich in front of me.

"Not really" Everyone laughed when I said this. "I like to learn though" I added truthfully before picking up the sandwich and taking a bite. It was amazing; this is the closest thing I've had to a real meal since last year's spaghetti dinner before the championships.

"How is it?" Esme asked as she sat down in the chair next to mine, her eyes never leaving my face.

"Fantastic" I smiled thankfully. While I ate they continued to ask me questions, even after I finished eating we kept talking. It was nice to have people actually be interested in me as a person. I couldn't help but smile as I told them pretty much everything about me. We talked for hours around the kitchen table, I had completely lost track of time. My exhaustion finally set in, I was completely wiped.

"Adam, sweetheart, why don't you go to bed?" Esme asked as she reached over moving my hair out of my eyes. Where would I sleep, I didn't exactly have a room here. I started to feel incredibly self conscious.

"The couch of course" Edward cut in, I blushed deeply; I really need to keep in mind that he could hear my thoughts. Alice got up from the table and ran out of the room, I had never seen someone move that fast before in my life. She returned just seconds later, her arms full with a large blanket and pillow. I smiled and got up from the table.

"Thank you Alice" I took the blanket and pillow from her and headed into the living room.

Jasper's Pov

I couldn't help but smile, everyone was extremely happy with how well Adam had taken the news about us being his family and us being vampires. We waited until we heard him lay down before we started talking. Esme got her laptop out quickly; she was already trying to purchase things for Adam's room. Alice had volunteered to condense her two closets into one so Adam could have a bedroom, well not so much volunteered but was told to.

It sounded as if a lawn mower was starting up; we all got to our feet to investigate the sound. "What is that?" Emmett asked as he looked around; Alice only laughed as led us into the living room. "Why is he making that noise? Is he okay?" Emmett looked worried.

Carlisle let out a hearty laugh. "Emmett, he's snoring; he's fine." Adam moved in his sleep, I'm sure the noise was waking him up.

"Hush, let him sleep" Esme reprimanded us as we started to laugh. She looked Adam over and smiled; she sat on the coffee table in front of him and carefully lifted the blanket off of this feet. She gently removed his shoes; they were in such terrible shape. "We need to take him shopping" she said quietly knowing it wouldn't wake him. I watched as she stood up and smoothed out the blanket covering Adam; she smiled and tucked the blanket around him before leaning down and lightly kissing his forehead. Alice had to stifle a squeal as Adam moved slightly in his sleep, a subtle smile on his face.


	14. Chapter 13

Rosalie's Pov

I was about to sit down to watch Adam sleep when Esme turned to me. "Take Emmett and get Adam's stuff from his storage unit. It's going to be daylight soon and I'd rather not have you guys seen, okay?"

"Of course" I nodded and got up, taking Emmett's hand in mine as we retrieved the keys from Adam's bag. We climbed into my car and headed to the storage facility.

"He lived here?" Emmett asked, his voice dripping with sadness.

"Yeah" I nodded solemnly, I quickly unlocked Adam's unit and raised the door with ease. I sighed softly as I looked in.

"Whoa, what is that?" Emmett pointed at the small black and white cat that got up from a folded up blanket.

"That's Rosie" I smiled.

"He named his cat after you? That's not fair" he sounded disappointed. I laughed and ran my fingers through his hair.

"Aw sweetie, Emmett just isn't a good name for a cat" he nodded and sighed. "Esme doesn't want this crap to be brought back does he?" he looked around at the few things Adam had.

"I don't think so, let's just get his books, the cat and his teddy bear" he nodded and leaned down to pick up Rosie. She hissed and swatted at him.

"Ha! He certainly got the name right" Emmett laughed and I glared at him, he finally scooped up the cat and grabbed the litter box and the bag of cat food. I picked up Yogi and gathered up the textbooks. We did a final check to make sure we weren't forgetting anything before we headed home. When we got home everyone was still in the living room, watching Adam sleep. He looked so peaceful, the thought warmed me from the inside; I had almost forgotten this feeling, it's been so long.

Rosie jumped out of Emmett's grasp as he entered the house, "What is that?" Jasper looked at the cat with wide eyes.

"It's his cat" I smiled as she ran around the room before seeing Adam, she jumped with ease on to him and immediately curled up on his chest. "Come on, let him sleep guys" I motioned for them to follow me into the kitchen again. A few hours had passed before we heard anything from Adam. He got up from the couch and made his way into the kitchen, having heard our voices. Emmet laughed as he came in; his hair was an absolute mess.

Alice's Pov

"Nice, dude, nice" Emmett smiled. We all laughed, Adam looked around very dazed, not having gathered his bearings yet.

"What time is it?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"It's about twelve, honey" Esme smiled.

His eyes widened, "What about school, I've never missed a day" he tensed up.

"Honey, you're doctor called in, it's fine" Esme gave him a little wink.

"My what now?" Adam looked to Esme absolutely baffled.

"Carlisle called in; you're not going to be in any trouble." Adam nodded; he finally began to look at us with clarity. "What would you like for breakfast?" I tapped my foot impatiently on the ground; we would be heading into Philadelphia once he ate so we could take him shopping. Esme fixed Adam some French toast, which he ate quickly. "So Adam, I was thinking we could go shopping today, is that okay?"

"Shopping?" he looked nervous. "I don't really have any money to go shopping with" Esme hushed him gently and explained that he didn't need to worry about that anymore, ever. Emmett led Adam upstairs after he finished eating; he showed him the shower and got him a clean change of clothes. We waited for about a half an hour, I was going nuts and he was taking way too long. Jasper looked to me, clearly sensing my impatience.

"Baby, you've got relax" he laughed and took my hand in his. We listened as we heard the water being turned off; it was another five minutes before Adam came down the stairs. I tried unsuccessfully to not laugh when we came down the stairs.

"You don't happen to have anything a few sizes smaller do you?" he asked looking to Emmett, the clothing Emmett had given him was way too big. He had one hand desperately trying to hold up his jeans, the sweater he had on hung about six inches too long on each arm. Jasper must have felt his embarrassment because he got up quickly and took Adam back upstairs and to his room.

We were finally on our way to the mall; we had to take two cars as everyone but Carlisle was coming with us. We became a bit argumentative about who would ride with Adam, Edward and Bella finally agreed to ride alone in Edward's Volvo. We headed for the King of Prussia Mall which was one of my favorite places. We headed into the mall, I was extremely excited.

"So where do we start?" Adam asked looking around.

"A haircut" Esme smiled, we took Adam into a salon. Adam allowed me to choose suggest his new hairstyle. The stylist spent a good hour trimming down his mane; when she was finally done he looked great compared to the 5 to 6 inches of mess that it was before. She applied a little bit of moose and gel before combing it upright.

Adam's Pov

I looked at myself in the mirror for a moment, a smile slowly crossing my face; I looked goof. I thanked the stylist and headed over to the cash register. When I was told the haircut was forty bucks a lump formed in my throat. I pulled out my tattered wallet, sighing as I saw I had a total of sixty dollars to my name. I pulled the cash out and started to pay her; Esme reached over and stopped me. "Honey, I've got it okay?" She smiled softly and handed her bank card over.

"Thanks Mom" I didn't think about it as the words rolled off my tongue. It wasn't that I didn't mean it, I did; I just didn't know how she would react to the word. She turned immediately, I found myself holding my breath as she just looked at me. The cashier cleared her throat and sat the receipt in front of her.

Esme's Pov

He called me Mom, at first I thought he made a mistake but he just looked at me like it was the most natural thing in the world. I was actually glad I couldn't cry I knew causing a scene would have probably embarrassed him. I signed the receipt before turning back to him and smiled.

"Come on, there is shopping to be done!" Alice cried out impatiently, quickly ending our moment.

"Alright, where to?" Adam asked sweetly. I knew he didn't want to be shopping right now but he wanted to please us. I walked with Adam as Alice led us to Brooks Brothers; her and Rosalie took charge and started pulling shirts and pants off of the racks. Adam sat down near the dressing rooms with his brothers. I couldn't help but watch as he began to warm up to them. Alice handed him some things to try on before pushing him in the direction of a dressing room.

She waited for about five minutes before calling into him. "How's it going Adam?"

"What's that I can't hear you" he called back.

"How's it going?" She repeated louder, they repeated this interaction about four times before Alice stormed into the dressing room, frustrated, going right to his stall.

"How is it going?" She all but shouted at him. He opened the door and peeked his head out.

"Jeez Alice what is with all of the yelling?" he smirked. I laughed along with the boys as Alice huffed before taking a look at him and smiling. He looked really good. We spent a few more hours at the mall, he allowed Alice and Rosalie to pick out most of his clothes, he tried to argue about the prices of a few items but each time Alice shot him down. He eventually stopped even trying; I guess he's a quick learner.

I finally had to step in and ask Alice to let Adam do some shopping with his brothers. She didn't argue with me, she never did. They returned with even more bags about an hour later, Carlisle had already called me from home telling me they had delivered Adam's bedroom set. He sounded really excited which was great, I was so caught up in my own grief that I forgot how much Adam meant to him.

**A/N – Hey guys thanks for the reviews, this chapter is a bit fluffy but I want things to be nice and happy for a while.**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N – Focusing a little on Adam's life as a somewhat normal teenager in this chapter. I had two copies of this chapter on my computer, my rough draft and my final well my rough got posted by accident so I am reposting this and dividing it into two chapters. **

Adam's Pov

We headed home with more bags and clothes then I have ever seen in my life, I hated that they were spending so much money on me but I sort of needed the clothing and I think it may hurt them if I tried to stop them. They seemed so happy while we were shopping. This having a family thing was pretty great. My dad had set up my room while we were out every single part of it was great. The bed was the most comfortable thing I have ever lied down on. I didn't want this day to end I was afraid if I fell asleep I'd wake up back on the hard concrete floor of my storage unit but I couldn't stay awake much longer. I was exhausted; I guess shopping can do that to you.

I felt something gently shaking me, I groaned into my pillow as I felt it again. I finally lifted my head smiling as I saw my mom. "Good morning sweetie," her voice was so sweet, she could say anything and it would sound good to me.

"Good morning" I smiled back and rolled onto my back before slowly getting up. She asked me what I wanted for breakfast before heading back downstairs. I grabbed my towel and a change of clothes before heading to the bathroom that I was sharing with Emmett and Rosalie. I got a shower and attempted to fix my hair the way the stylist had done yesterday; when it looked relatively close I headed downstairs and took a seat at the table.

"So what are your plans for after school?" Mom asked as she sat a plate of pancakes in front of me.

"I have football practice until five" I smiled as I started to eat. She told me that someone would be there to pick me up when it was done.

Alice's Pov

I watched as Adam climbed into the back of my car, he quickly put his seat belt on and smiled. We were at school pretty quickly, not as quickly as I was used to of course, I had a mortal in the car with me. When we climbed out of the car people were staring at Adam. Edward smiled as I'm sure he was listening to the thoughts of the many girls who were looking at him. I smiled, happy for him but Rosalie on the other hand was glaring at the gawkers.

"It looks like we've got a budding heart breaker on our hands!" Emmett laughed and patted Adam's back. Adam lurched forward, nearly falling.

"Emmett!" Rosalie barked at him, it was clear he had forgotten how fragile Adam was. Emmett apologized quickly but Adam just laughed it off.

"I'm fine, I promise" He turned to Rosalie, calming her down. People were looking at Adam all day which I could tell was making him self-conscious. When lunch finished we all walked out together, we watched from a distance as Adam got to his locker, this Lewis guy that Rosalie had told me about walked over and pushed him into the locker with a shoulder check. Jasper let out a low growl; I grabbed his hand and pulled him back, a vision washing over me.

"Let him be, if you jump in there you'll just embarrass him" I warned having seen Adam's face in my vision when Jasper protected him. Jasper sighed and nodded, trusting me.

"Look at you Phillips, someone finally showed what Supercuts is?" he mocked him. His words made me furious, even with his long hair Adam had never looked dirty. Adam just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore him. "I'm talking to you damn it" Lewis shoved Adam this time. Another vision washed over me, I saw Adam finally pushing back but it was right when a teacher was coming by, he was going to get into trouble. I walked over quickly.

"Ignore him, Adam" I gently touched his arm. Lewis let out a laugh.

"Another sweet piece of tail Phillips, I don't know how you do it. Come on babe let me show you a real man" He grabbed my wrist, his touch made my skin crawl. I wanted to snap his neck. Adam's eyes widened when Lewis touched me, I didn't have time to stop him before he tackled Lewis into the set of lockers on the other side of the hall. The rest of my family was instantly at my side as the teacher I had seen in my vision was shouting at them to stop.

"Emmett, stop this" I said lowly, Emmett took his time, letting Adam get a few hits in before pulling him off Lewis. Neither of them we're hurt but Lewis looked afraid of Adam. I smiled to myself as Adam straightened his uniform out.

"Mr. Taylor's office, both of you, now!" the teacher looked at them. Adam turned back to us and gave an apologetic shrug before following the teacher to the principal's office. We finally headed to our next classes, when they were done I saw Adam at his locker.

"What happened?" I asked looking him up and down, he smiled at me.

"Lewis got a three day suspension and I got a warning when I explained how he had put his hands on you. I guess Mr. Taylor has a sister or at least a daughter. He chewed Lewis out for a good thirty minutes about putting his hands on women." I smiled at this.

"Are you okay, he didn't hurt you did he?"

"Not at all, he's going to have a black eye though" Emmett cheered at this as he came up behind us.

"I was looking forward to teaching you how to fight but I guess someone's beat me to it." Emmett said with mock disappointment. "So what is that guy's deal with you exactly?" he asked referring to Lewis, this was the second time in a week that he was messing with our Adam.

"I beat him out for the football team" Adam gave a little smirk. Emmett laughed at this and clapped Adam on the back, much gentler this time.


	16. Chapter 15

Emmett's Pov

It's Friday and for I was excited for more than just the fact that we didn't have school for the next two days; Adam had another football game tonight, we've been to all three that he's had so far this season. I loved playing sports but I couldn't really play competitive sports, I could easily hurt someone and I didn't want to do that. I guess I would be living vicariously through my baby brother. The school day seemed to drag on forever; once it was done we headed home for a few hours before heading back to the school.

Esme was beaming as she saw Adam take the field, he waved to us before starting to warm up and stretch. We all watched him intently. Carlisle looked so proud; I know that watching his son play sports had been one of the things he was looking forward to when Adam was little. After his warm up they headed over to the sideline.

Everyone had started to talk amongst themselves as the opposing team's band took the field. Adam walked over to the cheerleaders with his helmet in his hands. He had his eyes on one in particular. I smiled he walked up to a cute little blonde, she smiled at him, blushing a little as she played with hair. He blushed as well as they chatted, I frowned as I tried to listen to what they were saying but they were too far away. It was very clear that she was into him.

"Who the hell is that skank?" Rosalie glared at her. The whole family turned to Rosalie to see what the problem was.

"Oh come on babe, let him have his fun" I laughed.

"A cheerleader? Really? He can do so much better" she was still glaring. I laughed again; no one would ever be good enough for Adam in her eyes. The game started up, we were on our feet almost the entire time cheering for Adam. I was really impressed with how good he was, when he was playing wide receiver he always had at least a step on the defenders and when he was playing safety he tackled players with a booming authority.

Edward's Pov

Once the game ended we waited as he changed out of his pads. Esme hugged him once he came out of the locker room; he smiled as everyone told him how great he did. Once the praise slowed down he turned back to Esme. "Mom, the guys are having a bit of a get together tonight, can I go?" he asked nervously.

"Is it a party?" Esme asked immediately. _Not that I know of. _

"No, it's just a couple of the guys and some girls from school" Esme turned to me; I nodded to make sure she knew he was being honest. Not that Adam had lied to us before, she just probably wouldn't let him go if it was a party; he was just fifteen while most of his friends and teammates were all juniors and seniors.

"Okay, you can go I just want you home by midnight okay?" Adam looked to his new watch and nodded, it was only 9 now. _He has no business being a party with these older boys. _Rosalie fumed. _There is nothing good that can come of this. _I tried to suppress a laugh, if Rosalie had her way Adam would never see anyone outside of our family ever again.

"Thanks, Mom" he smiled happily.

"I would feel better if one of us picked you up okay?"

"Of course, Mike is going to drive me there, I will call with the address once I get there Okay?" He asked softly.

"That sounds good" She smiled and hugged Adam again before he hurried off to his friend's car.

Adam's Pov

I climbed into Mike's car and gave a final wave to family before he drove off. "You've been spending a ton of time with that new family the past few weeks" Mike commented. I thought about lying to him but it wasn't worth it.

"Yeah, I sort of have been living in a storage unit for the past couple years" I explained. "All of their kids are adopted. They have been letting me live with them"

"You've been living in a storage unit dude? Why didn't you tell me? I would have helped you out." He looked at me, his eyes wide.

"I was just being stubborn man, I'm sorry. It's all good now okay? Please don't tell anyone okay?" Mike was my best friend and I knew he was a little hurt that I didn't tell him this.

"Alright" he nodded and popped me one on my shoulder. "That's for being so stubborn" he smiled. "So you and Sarah huh?" I blushed deeply.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I tried to wipe the smile off my face.

"Sure you don't" he laughed. "Careful man, she's a senior, she'll break your heart" We arrived at Jon's house who's parent were out of town, there were well over twenty cars out front.

"You said this would be just a couple of people man!" I half shouted.

"That's what Jon told me" he said seriously. "Do you want me to take you home?" he asked. I was about to say yes before I saw Sarah looking at me, she waved sweetly at me.

"No" I said softly before pulling my phone out and dialing Emmett's cell. I gave him the address and explained that there were a few more people than I expected. "Do you think I should come home?" I asked softly. He told me that I shouldn't and that he'd make sure he was the one to pick me up at midnight. I couldn't help but smile; he was a great older brother. I hung up my phone and climbed out of the car.

Sarah ran up to me and gave me a peck on the lips, she tasted like liquor; I couldn't help but feel disappointed. "Come on inside" she took my hand and let me inside. I didn't like it but I had fallen head over heels for this girl, she was smart and pretty, plus she liked me which was great. "Do you want a beer?"

"Nah I'm fine" I smiled as she sat me down on the couch. I talked with her for about an hour, she asked me if I wanted a beer about a dozen more times. She finally turned to me frustrated.

"You aren't going to let me drink alone are you?" I blushed and tried to come up with an excuse before she finally grabbed one and thrust it into my hand.

Alice's Pov

Rosalie was stomping around the house, still upset that Esme had let Adam go out with his friends; she was just being over protective. I had just curled up in bed with Jasper; I leaned in and gently kissed me as a vision washed over me. Adam was at party that was being broken up by the cops, tons of kids were running around away from the police officers. He looked panicked, he was with that blonde from the football game and she was stumbling all over the place. Adam looked a little intoxicated too.

"Damn it" I got up quickly from the bed.

**A/N – I'll be updating soon.**


	17. Chapter 16

Alice's Pov

Jasper sat up and looked at me, "What did you see?" he asked worried.

"Adam is doing stupid teenager crap, I have to go or he's going to get in trouble with more than just Esme and Rosalie." I'd like to avoid Adam getting in any trouble but with this family I doubt it's possible. I quietly made my way down to my car and headed straight for the party I had seen in my vision. When I got there it didn't surprise me that the cops would be breaking it up, these kids had no idea how to be discreet.

I made my way into the house, my nose involuntarily crinkling; it smelled of a terrible combination of body odor, booze and marijuana. I looked around for a moment before I saw Adam on the couch, there was an empty beer on the table next to him and one in his hand. That blond cheerleader was next to him, he had turned to face her completely as he kissed her. I was behind him a second and in one quick motion I reached down grabbing his belt before lifting him up to his feet. "Adam, get in the car" I said sternly.

He looked me, his eyes wide. That's right buddy, busted. That little blonde got to her feet and gave me a push. "How about you mind your own business bitch" she slurred.

"No, no, no, no" Adam put his hand on her shoulder and stood between the two of us. "Don't do that, she will kill you" part of me wanted to smile as he said this but I was still too angry with him.

"Adam, get in the car before I put you there" I looked at him seriously, that was thankfully all it took. He walked out to the car without looking back. "How much have you had to drink?" I asked once we got to the car.

"Just two beers" he said softly, he looked like he had more but at fifteen he could just be a lightweight. I sighed and opened the car door for him; he climbed in and stared blankly ahead. When I climbed in he turned to me slightly. "Mom is going to kill me isn't she" I sighed again.

"It's not something you'll be able to hide, you reek of beer and everyone in the house will smell it" I explained sadly. I didn't want him to get into any trouble at all but that ship has sailed. He nodded and leaned back in his seat. We were soon on the long driveway up to our house; with all of the tree coverage you couldn't even see the house yet.

"Stop the car" Adam patted my arm urgently, I turned and looked at him, he looked like was about to be sick.

"Not in the car!" I stopped the car and got out opening his door I pulled him out of the car. He made his way a few feet into the woods before leaning over and puking. I rubbed his back as he heaved, he didn't puke much up so I figured he must have really only had two beers. "What did you eat that is pink?" I asked with a laugh.

"Not. Helping. Alice." He held his hand up as he continued to heave. He finally stood up right, panting.

I couldn't help but chuckle. "You may not get into trouble after all, now you just smell like puke" he narrowed his eyes at me and took in a few deep breathes as a vision washed over me again. There were about half a dozen newborns in the woods along with two older vampires, Adam I were still outside of the car in my vision, this would be happening soon.

"Alice?" Adam turned and looked at me. "Alice?" he repeated sounding worried, he finally reached and gave my arm a shake. That's when my vision ended, it was the first time ever that one of my visions had ended before it had finished. Adam must have ended it for me unintentionally.

"Adam get in the car" I said urgently, he could tell something wasn't right. "No matter what, stay in the car, do you understand?" his eyes widened but he nodded and opened up the car door.

"Very impressive" I turned as I heard the icy voice. "Still just a pathetic human though" I saw eight shadowed silhouettes a few feet into the woods. I screamed loudly, praying the family could hear me from inside but we were still a good couple hundred feet from the house. Adam climbed quickly into the car and locked the doors. It wasn't until the newborns pounced on me that he screamed and opened the door again, trying to run over to me. He was met by one of the older, more controlled vampires.

If they got their hands on Adam they would do one of two things, drain him in an attempt to get his powers, or they would bite him and turn him. Either way Adam's life would end. I refused to let that happen, I screamed again at the top of my lungs as I tried to fight off the newborns.

Adam looked terrified, as one of the vampires reached out to grab him he froze. Adam backed up nervously as he looked at his frozen form. "Very Impressive" I heard the icy voice again. Adam turned around to face the other vampire, when he broke eye contact with the first vampire he unfroze which Adam didn't realize. Adam looked at the other and stopped him in his tracks as well, but the one who was behind him had enough and grabbed him. I screamed again, screaming Jasper's name this time, praying they would hear us.

I watched in horror as the vampire lifted Adam and pushed him into a large tree, I could hear the wood splinter with the force. Adam tried to break free but the vampire just slammed him into the tree again. He grabbed a hold of Adam's wrist and held him up by it; the sickening sound of his shoulder dislocating rang out, without a moment's hesitation the he bit into Adam's bicep going right for the brachial artery.

**A/N Next chapter Jasper, having heard his name being shouted comes out to investigate, but will it be too late?**


	18. Chapter 17

Jasper's Pov

When Alice had left I headed downstairs where most of the family was gathered watching the news. My head jerked towards the windows as I heard a scream. "What was that?" Bella asked as she got up and looked out the window. Seconds later I heard another scream.

"What is going on?" I asked to no one in particular as I got up as well. We looked out the windows unable to see anything or anyone. I started to head back to the couch when I heard my name being screamed. It was Alice, if my heart beat it would have stopped for a moment as the worry washed over me. I ran without a word to the door and into the woods towards Alice's screams. The smell of sweet vanilla filled my nostrils, Adam. I finally saw them, I considered helping Alice first but she would be okay if I waited, Adam wouldn't. I ran into the vampire who was holding Adam's limp body against the tree, his eyes we're red with Adam's blood, this only enraged me more. I smashed him into one of the large oaks; he snapped and snarled at me. I felt a surge of energy as I snapped his neck pulling his head off with one clean motion.

The rest of the family had followed me, I tried to ignore their anguish but it made my chest hurt. I heard Esme's dry sobs as I turned quickly pouncing on one of the newborns that had Alice. The smell of Adam's blood had driven them even further into frenzy. I saw Emmett grab a hold of the new born as well; I gave him a quick knowing look as we tore the body apart. I fought desperately to not look back at Adam. I don't think I would be able to keep fighting if I saw him.

Rosalie was desperately trying to hold one of them down as he snapped and bit at her. I could tell she needed help but Emmett beat me to it, with a brute force I had never seen, even from him, he pulled the newborn away from her, throwing him deep into the woods before following after him. I heard a cry from Bella as she was slammed into the ground.

Edward looked up, distracted, the newborn he had under him tossed him off and darted towards Adam. I heard a frightening growl and looked as I saw Esme pounce on the newborn. I knew she was lethal when we hunted but I had never seen her so ferocious before. I looked around; I think we got them all. The sounds of struggle had ceased when I heard a new sob. It was Carlisle; he was crouching over Adam desperately trying to stop the blood flow from Adam's arm. I pulled Alice to her feet and into my arms, protectively trying to shield her from the sight.

A/N – really short I know, finals are killing me I'll update soon


	19. Chapter 18

Carlisle's POV

Dry sob racked my body as I attempted to tighten the tourniquet around his arm; even with it on blood was flowing freely still. Esme returned to his side after destroying the newborn that had charged at him. "Come on baby" she leaned down and kissed his forehead; his eyes began to flutter open. He attempted to focus his eyes, failing miserably he tried to sit up. "No, no stay still sweetie" Esme plead with him as she pushed him down gently.

"Alice?" he opened his mouth slightly, even with my vampire hearing his voice was incredibly soft. Jasper released her from his protective hold and she ran to Adam's side.

"I'm right here" she gently took his hand. A look of relaxation started to form on his perfect face.

"No, no baby stay with me" Esme pled desperately. I fought it but another sob escaped my lips. I needed to stay strong; everyone was looking to me for a sign that he would be okay. He wouldn't; he had lost too much blood and his body was too battered. I knew I wasn't the only one that heard his heart beat slowing down.

This is not how Adam's life was supposed to be, I had dreams of him going off to college like a normal human, I had dreamt of him falling in love for the first time; in my mind I had imagined him bringing home some nervous beautiful girl that made him happy. This is not how my son's life was supposed to end. I tried again to slow the blood flow by tightening the tourniquet but his arms were too muscular. My son was dying because he was too strong. Another dry sob racked my body as I saw the rest of the family gathering around.

"Wh…what can we do?" Rosalie looked to me; I've never seen such a look of despair from her. I couldn't tell her nothing, I just couldn't do it; instead I pretended as if I hadn't heard her.

I thought about my options, we couldn't go to the hospital, even with our vampire speed we couldn't get there fast enough; he would die on the way. I only saw two viable options, neither of which was okay with me. I could bite him, try to let the venom heal his wounds but that wasn't even guaranteed, he may already be too far gone. If he was and I did bite him, he would die in immense pain. The other option was just to let him go, my family would not survive losing Adam this way, Esme would not survive, and I knew for a fact I couldn't.

My indecision was only making things worse. I shuddered at the thought of either option. "Carlisle you have to save him, I can't lose him, not again" Esme reached and took my hand in hers; I looked up into her eyes and knew what I had to do.

**A/N –I know, terrible place to stop but I will be updating once more before I go to bed.**


	20. Chapter 19

Carlisle's Pov

I looked down at my son; his skin was paler than mine. I listened as his heart beat continued to slow. I cringed at the thought of what I was about to do to him. I took in a deep unnecessary breath before leaning down and sinking my teeth into his neck. The taste made me feel sick. Esme and Alice held him down as he began to shake. I finally pulled my teeth out wiping the taste of my son's blood out of my mouth.

Rosalie buried her face in Emmett's shoulder as Adam began to writhe in pain. I felt like time had slowed down, Esme leaned in close softly telling Adam everything would be fine. "We need to get him inside" I said softly; my words hitching in my throat as I spoke. Alice and Esme nodded and carefully lifted him up. I looked around; the side of the drive was covered in Adam's blood. I finally turned to my other children. "You need to gather the carcasses" I said lowly. Rosalie lifted her head from Emmett's shoulder and began to object, none of them wanted to leave Adam's side. "There is nothing you can do now, please?"

I headed into the house with Adam, Alice and Esme; they moved swiftly to Adam's room and placed him on his bed. Alice sat on the bed at his feet as she braced him to control his thrashing. She knew he was still too weak. Esme began to do the same with his shoulders but I stopped her, I could handle it. I watched as she pulled a chair up to the side of his bed and took his hand in hers. She kissed it tenderly before beginning to tell him that everything would be fine.

I heard a strangled sob escape Alice's lips; she was struggling to hold Adam's legs still while he writhed in agony. She finally shut her eyes, the sight in front of her being too much for her to handle. He was in too much pain to even scream.

It was about half an hour before the rest of the family returned, a large fire as burning behind the house. They told me that everything had been destroyed. Rosalie climbed onto the bed sitting next to Adam she firmly took his other hand in hers. Jasper's hands were shaking; I could only imagine the intensified pain he was feeling because of his powers. Emmett looked terrified; it was a look I have never seen from him in our decades together. Bella couldn't even look at Adam; she buried her face into Edward's shoulder. I wanted to tell them that he would be fine but I couldn't lie to them, not about this.

Jasper could only tolerate being in the room for about five minutes before him, Edward and Bella walked out; they went straight outside in an attempt to clear their minds. Adam continued to struggle against mine and Alice's holds for about an hour before his thrashing slowed. This brought my fears to a sharp reality, he was too far gone. His heart rate slowed even more as Esme began to sob again. It was only another thirty minutes before it finally stopped.

I looked at him shocked as he lay there lifelessly. I couldn't bring myself to look at anyone else as an immense grief hit me like a ton of bricks.

**A/N – Still short I know, I hope to post the next chapter in a few hours. I've got exams and now strep so it may not be as quickly as I would like but please bear with me.**


	21. Chapter 20

Rosalie's Pov

I felt sick to my stomach as I looked at Adam. "No, no" Esme continued to plead as she sobbed. She held Adam's hand to her face; she continued to sob as she tenderly kissed his hand. Alice and Carlisle hadn't moved an inch, they both just stared.

I didn't want to let go of his hand but Emmett looked as if he was about to fall apart. I gently placed his hand down when I suddenly felt it tighten around mine. My eyes involuntarily widened as I watched his eyes begin to flicker open. How was this possible? I looked at him in utter shock as did everyone else.

"Adam? Can you hear me?" Carlisle spoke up. Adam's eyes focused on him, I was surprised as they were not the violent red that I had grown accustomed to in a newborn; they were a breathtaking blue, even more beautiful than they had been before.

"Yeah I can hear you" he said lowly his voice was dry and raspy.

"How?" Esme mouthed to Carlisle, he looked just as puzzled as everyone else.

"How do you feel Adam?" Carlisle asked looking down at Adam.

"My throat hurts" he said honestly.

"He needs to feed" Esme said looking to Carlisle again.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I've watched people turn and it always takes about 72 hours. Adam changed in two. Carlisle looked him over, his wounds had already healed. He looked completely fine. I felt like I must be having some sort of wish fulfillment fantasy, this couldn't be happening.

Adam finally sat upright, Esme pulled him into a tight hug. "How is this possible Carlisle?" I demanded an answer from him.

"I don't know" he said softly. "Maybe it's because he was already part vampire" he suggested. Esme still held him to her. He sniffed the air a slight look of disgust crossed his face.

"I smell terrible" he finally said. I laughed at this; he did smell awful; the dirt, dried blood and sweat that covered his clothing had combined to form an odor rivaling that of an ancient gym sock. Esme laughed as well, she hugged him for another minute or two before letting him go. "Can I go shower?" he asked politely. It was as if nothing had happened.

We watched him nervously as he went into the bathroom and turned the water on. Carlisle spent some time thinking about how this was possible, he convinced himself that it must be because his parents are vampires. It seems like a sound explanation to me. We decided that once he finished with his shower we needed to take him hunting, he wasn't showing the tell tale signs of bloodlust but I knew he would be soon.

He came out of the bathroom dressed in a nice sweater and jeans. Alice looked at him amazed; he was acting as if nothing had happened. He looked to Carlisle, "Am I like everyone else now?" he asked simply.

"Yes, Adam I believe so." He said softly a twinge of sadness in his voice.

"Okay" he nodded, completely accepting it. I was impressed with how he was handling this; he was not behaving like someone who had just been turned into a vampire. He was in complete control of himself; it was as if none of his animalistic instincts were present. "I feel strange, it's like I'm hungry but the feeling isn't coming from my stomach" he explained. I knew exactly what he was referring too; he needed to feed.

Carlisle nodded, "You need to feed; we'll take you hunting right now alright?" Carlisle sounded nervous he was afraid like we all were that Adam would go into frenzy like all newborns did. We ran with Adam to one of our hunting grounds. I was impressed with his speed; he was a lot faster than Edward was.

I tried not to stare as I watched him hunt. He was incredible, I don't know how to describe it; he was like a super vampire. My senses peaked as I smelled a human, I ran to Adam's side as did the rest of my family. I watched his eyes anxiously expected them to turn black. They didn't. He looked to us a little surprised. "What's wrong?" he asked a bit unsure. He sniffed the air. "What is that?" he asked with a strange look, it wasn't blood lust that was on his face.

"A human" Emmett said quickly.

"How is that not driving you crazy?" Jasper asked shocked.

"It smells good, don't get me wrong, but I just, I'm not hungry" he explained simply. I was shocked; he was not lusting for human blood. It was as if he'd been doing this for decades. Jasper didn't even have this kind of control.

Adam's Pov

I felt very strange; my senses were all in overdrive, it felt natural to feed on these animals now. I felt like a predator. My family seemed like they were afraid of me. Not me necessarily but of what I would do. They had never explained to me what it was like to be a vampire but honestly I felt fine.

"Is that smell supposed to drive me crazy?" I asked looking to my dad.

"Well, Adam, with most people who have just changed the bloodlust is unmanageable" he explained to me.

"Does that mean there is something wrong with me?" I asked quickly.

"No, it doesn't mean that, not at all. It's as if you are already in control of your instincts." He seemed shocked and mildly impressed. I knew my life very different from this point on; I couldn't continue playing competitive sports. It would be so easy for me to hurt someone now, I couldn't do that. Esme asked me if I was hungry still, I wasn't. We decided to head home to discuss what we would be doing next.

We started running, I kept up with Edward with ease, he seemed very surprised but that didn't stop him from challenging me to a race. I heard my mom shouting for us to take it easy but I was already off.

Esme's Pov

Adam already had more physical prowess than I had ever seen from one of our kind. He was destroying Edward in their foot race and much to my surprise he appeared to be suffering from zero bloodlust. His eyes did not look like the rest of ours, even as he fed his eyes never turned the liquid gold that I had expected to see.

He looked very human still with perfect blue eyes. He was the most beautiful vampire I had ever seen. Once he had fed his color had adjusted a bit, he was not as pale as the rest of us. He was incredibly perfect, I had thought Rosalie was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen but he was different.

Once we were home he was outside with Edward, he was testing his abilities. I watched in awe, he was absolutely phenomenal. He climbed up one of the tall oak trees with such ease. He was faster than Edward and more graceful than Alice. I bet he's even stronger than Emmett.

"Come on boys, inside. We need to have a talk" I called out to them before heading into the house.

**A/N - I hope you guys didn't think I would really be able to kill Adam In the next chapter the family will be deciding where to go from here, staying in the Poconos won't be an option as too many questions will be asked.**


	22. Chapter 21

Edward's Pov

Adam absolutely blew my mind, he had incredible physical prowess; he completely smoked me during our foot race. I watched as he jumped down from the tree he had climbed. He landed perfectly with a thud and started back towards the house.

_This is freaking amazing. I feel like spider man or something._ I watched a grin cross his face, I gave a small laugh. I was emotionally exhausted, I could only imagine how Jasper must feel. I felt my entire world crash down when Adam's heart had stopped. Bella had been clinging to me tightly as we listened from outside. Esme's sobs brought a pain to me that I had never felt before. Not even five minutes after I thought my world was ending we could hear him speaking to Carlisle. I thought it was just my mind playing tricks with me until I saw it with my own eyes, he was completely fine.

Watching him hunt was outstanding, he was totally lethal but he was always in control too which was fantastic. Rosalie had described him in her head as a super vampire. I couldn't agree more. He had every positive trait of ours without all of the negative ones. I was actually a little jealous of him though except for the fact that he would always be stuck at fifteen. He could pull off looking older though, I had seen him mornings before he had the chance to shave and he had more facial hair than I did. I wanted him to be able to find true love one day and at 15 I think that may be difficult.

I joined the rest of my family in the living room; everyone's eyes were still on Adam. _Well this is going to have to stop._ I chuckled and turned to Carlisle. "What is it that we were going to talk about?" I asked to get everyone's attention away from Adam as I already knew the answer.

"We cannot stay here much longer, Adam, people will be able to tell how much you've changed. That sort of attention can be very problematic for us" he explained and Adam nodded.

"Of course" he said softly.

"I will start looking for a new job in the morning. Adam we are going to have you "transfer" to another school, I will call some old acquaintances and have the paperwork sent through in the morning. Once I have some options for a new job we will leave. Is that alright?" He asked all of us. None of us had any ties to the area except for Adam so leaving this soon would be easy for us. I tried to zero in on Adam's thoughts again, he turned to me. _Is that you? Are you trying to listen? _ I was a bit shocked as his thoughts singled me out. _Stop doing that it sounds like a radio has been left on AM every time you do that._ He looked at me seriously.

"Sorry, Adam" I said seriously, I didn't realize it had bothered him, he smirked and I tried to listen in again but I heard nothing.

"What?" Bella turned to me, confused. I explained what had happened. By the look on everyone's face I wasn't the only one who was impressed. _Hey, Edward how long is this going to take? I want to beat you in Call of Duty._ My eyes widened again, this time his voice sounded different then when I was hearing his thoughts. He was actually talking to my mind with his. He had almost full control of his powers now.

Adam apologized for the interruption and we continued our discussion, Adam wanted to go back to school immediately when we started at our new place. I for one wasn't sure if that was a great idea but we told him that it we would wait and see. If he finally started having bloodlust he could be very dangerous for a while. We discussed things for over an hour before we were allowed to go.

Jasper's Pov

It's been about two weeks since Adam turned, Carlisle had gotten a couple job offers and we decided on Pittsburgh, we researched the weather and surprisingly there were about 200 cloudy days per year there. We had decided on the some prep school outside of the city it was a good school, had it not been for Adam we would have just gone to public school but Esme insisted he get the best education available, at least for his first run through high school.

Esme had gone out a few days early to help set up the new house. It was a bit larger than our last one and it was miles from any other homes. Carlisle would be commuting to work and us to school but it was worth it if we could be ourselves around the house without any fear of being discovered. Alice was excited to be living in a much more urban area, which of course meant more shopping. Adam was excited as well he was looking forward to a new start as an official member of the family; he would no longer need to make up excuses for the time he spent with us. Rosalie had spent most of the last two weeks teaching Adam how to drive at Esme's request.

Our flight to Pittsburg was this morning and with everyone's excitement I felt like I was about to burst. This is as close to a clean start as our family would ever have. Carlisle shouted from downstairs to remind us we needed to leave soon or we'd miss the flight. Emmett, always the procrastinator was filling up his suitcase at top speed. All but our essentials had already been shipped to the house earlier in the week so it wasn't much.

"Alright, Alright I'm good" Emmett boomed and took off down the stairs. Alice and Rosalie had driven the cars out earlier in the week, coming back with a different rental each time. They had done so incredibly efficiently which impressed me. We have been sharing two rentals for the past few days which had led to a dozen or so arguments throughout the family.

We piled into the two cars with little room to spare; the drive was an uneventful one. I found myself smiling as I felt Adam's excitement, this would be his first flight, well not really but he doesn't remember the few from his childhood.

The flight was only an hour but Carlisle had sprung for First Class, he wanted Adam's first flight that he remembered to be a comfortable on. I tried not to laugh as the second we sat down Adam turned his music on and spaced out for the entire flight, never even once looking out the window.

When we got to the new house everyone was impressed, it was great. Esme had everything unpacked when we arrived. She allowed us to get settled first before taking Adam out to the garage to show him the gift we had all bought him. It was a silver Audi TT, it had the speed that Adam would love with the unnecessary safety features that made Esme convertible. I laughed as he stared open mouthed at the car before turning and hugging everyone.

He spent the night driving Rosalie around as she helped him get used to the controls, they arrived home about 2 hours before would be starting school. The new house had allotted everyone their own bathroom which was really nice; they both went straight upstairs and got ready for school.

Esme's Pov

I waited downstairs with my camera, a giant smile crossing my face as Adam made his way down the stairs. He was in a very nice merino wool cardigan and a pair of twill chinos, there was no doubt in my mind that his outfit was at Alice's request. Whenever she would leave the house he would immediately change into some vintage t shirt and a pair of tattered jeans. I couldn't complain though; he looked very handsome. "Mom what are you doing?" he asked as he saw the camera.

"I just wanted to document your first day of school as a documented member of our family." He laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, fine" he gave me a genuine smile so I could snap a picture. With that he hurried out to the garage where everyone was already waiting. I smiled as I heard them giving a hard time for moving so slowly. I watched from the door as they all headed off to school.

Adam's Pov

The school Esme had selected was pretty excellent. I was enrolled as a sixteen year old sophomore; my driver's license said Adam Penn and listed my birthday as being a few weeks ago. It was awesome to have a driver's license even though I would never actually be sixteen. Everyone else was listed as juniors, which was okay with me, we had still signed up for a lot of the same courses. We were soon at the school, the campus was gorgeous. We climbed out of the cars; I tried to ignore the stares as we did. We were starting in the middle of the semester and we were a little eye catching to begin with.

We headed to the office to pick up our schedules and maps of the school. I had all but two of my classes with at least one member of my family and we all had lunch together so I was pleased. I hadn't spoken more than a few words to anyone outside of my family before I got to lunch.

Rosalie decided to drag me through the lunch line and put random things on my tray and I couldn't help but look at it in disgust. Food smelled awful to me, Carlisle said it was due to the fact that my sense of smell was much more intensified than everyone else's. I prayed it would get better with 'age'. I was smiling as I saw that everyone had already claimed a table for us, it was off to the side next to the windows. I took my seat, it faced the entire cafeteria.

I rocked back a little balancing the chair on its back two legs as I participated in the conversation about our days so far. I took in a deep breath as I smelled something incredible, like a perfect gardenia. I looked around for the source of the smell. I looked ahead past Alice's head as I discovered the source. I felt my vision begin to blur and everything went black.

Rosalie's Pov

Alice was talking animatedly about someone who intrigued her in her chemistry class and I was having a difficult time zoning her out. I smirked as I saw Adam; he clearly wasn't having the same problem. He was staring off into space, his eyes focused on nothing. I turned to whisper something to Emmett when Adam flipped out of his chair, I watched shocked as it appeared he had just passed out, something I had never seen a vampire do. His head smacked off the glass behind him, cracking it as he fell.

A/N – Well as you can tell Adam isn't a typical vampire, in the next chapter I hope to reveal what made him react the way he did.


	23. Chapter 22

Rosalie's Pov

We got Adam up to his feet but everyone in the cafeteria had already seen or heard his head crack the window. A teacher hurried over and had Adam sit down; he quickly checked Adam over to see if he was bleeding. He, of course, was not. "He needs to go to the nurse" he looked to me.

"Our father is a doctor. We'll drive him to the hospital" I explained. The teacher nodded as we assisted Adam out to the car. "What the hell happened?" I looked at Adam before reaching into his pocket and fishing out his keys.

"I have no idea" he looked as alarmed as we all did.

"Are you okay now?" I asked as worry swept over me.

"I feel really lightheaded" he said softly, he looked very dazed. That's all I needed to convince me that he needed to see Carlisle. I drove Adam in his car to Carlisle's hospital, I called him on the way so he was there waiting.

"What happened?" he asked me immediately.

"He passed out at lunch" I explained.

"What do mean passed out?" he looked puzzled and worried.

"He looked really out of it and then passed out, fainted and on the way down he slammed his head off a window and cracked it" I added. Carlisle led us in to his office and had Adam sit down. We all watched as Carlisle examined him and asked him questions about how he was feeling.

After half of an hour of examining Adam Carlisle announced that he was physically fine but due to the fact that Adam still felt dizzy he wanted him to go home and rest for a few days. We all groaned when he added that the rest of us needed to go back to school.

Adam's Pov

I felt so off, my head was spinning. It was almost like a concussion but worse and that freaked me out. The last thing I remembered was Alice jabbering on about something. I didn't know what happened but I knew it wasn't supposed to happen. Rosalie drove me home in my car; Mom was waiting in the driveway when we got there. She looked panic stricken, I tried to explain that I was fine but she just led me straight to my room and handed a set of PJs before telling me to change. I began to argue but she wouldn't have any of it. I grumbled and headed into the bathroom to change. When I came out she all but forced me into bed.

****  
It's been two days since my little episode at lunch. My mom was still trying to keep me in bed but I was going stir crazy. Last night she had actually growled at me when she discovered Emmett and I chasing each other around in the tree tops. She had also called me by my full name; I still didn't know which was worse; that or the growl. With some much needed coaxing from Dad, I was being allowed to go back to school today. I went hunting early this morning with Emmett; I needed to feed three times as much as everyone else. Dad thought it was because of the amount of energy I expended; I guess that made sense.

I was met with stares when we arrived at school, everyone had clearly heard about my little episode. Carlisle had written me a doctor's note explaining away what had happened with some blood pressure issue. It was just enough not to arise suspicion but it also allowed the family to take me home in case it ever happened again.

I smiled softly to myself as I heard their chatter, for some reason I sounded popular amongst the females. I chuckled softly as I headed inside with my family. They all watched me like hawks throughout the morning. When I managed fine through lunch they seemed to let up a bit which was nice. When the bells rang I headed off to chemistry with Alice and Emmett. They went straight to their lab table; they had been paired together during the week while I was at home. I waited up near the teacher's desk; I smiled as she came in. She was in her early thirties and had a bright smile.

"Oh, Mr. Penn right?" she asked as she looked me up and down.

"Yes mam" I nodded.

"How are you feeling?" I smiled softly at her concern even though I was a little frustrated that every single person in this school knew I had passed out.

"Better" I said softly. I watched as the rest of the class made their ways into the classroom. I had controlled my breathing, being able to look like I was inhaling and exhaling without actually doing so; my sense of smell had been so much more heightened since Monday's episode.

"That's great" she smiled, "I'm going to have you work with Lisa, her lab partner had to drop the course recently." She explained and motioned towards a table. I looked up, getting a good look at the beautiful girl standing in front of me. I fought the urge but a grin slowly formed on my face.

"Hey, your Adam Penn right?" she smiled at me. My chest began to felt tight as I looked at her. All I could do was nod. "How's your head? I watched you take that nasty spill on Monday, there is still a massive crack in the window from your noggin."

I smiled and took a deep breath unable to control my fake breathing anymore. My nostrils filled with an amazing smell; gardenias I think. I took three more rapid breathes trying to take in as much of the glorious aroma that I could. My eyes began to blur quickly, I attempted to grasp to any clarity I could but things began to fade to black.

Emmett's Pov

Rosalie was still upset with me about playing outside with Adam last night; she and Esme completely over reacted. Neither of them seemed to grasp that Adam was immortal now. I was concerned for him though he had fainted which is something I had never seen one of our kind do. The worst part was that we had no idea what was causing it.

Everyone but Rosalie had lightened up on him after lunch; he seemed as good as new to me. We wore worried that being around so many humans had caused Adam to pass out the first day at lunch but he was doing well. I was actually looking forward to our chemistry class, we were doing a lab today and that meant Alice and I didn't have to pretend to pay attention as much. I watched as Adam spoke to our teacher; he was always all smiles which was great to see.

She led him to a lab table up at the front of the class, there was a pretty girl already standing there. She smiled sweetly at him as I heard her ask about his head. He must be going crazy with everyone asking him about that; I chuckled softly as I watched him. "Adam?" I heard her gentle voice full of concern as she looked at him. He looked off, in the way that Rosalie had described before his first incident. He swayed for a second before his knees buckled. Alice shrieked his name at a human level as he fell; he fell hard, his head landing on the corner of the lab table behind him. The wood splintered and the corner snapped off as fell to the ground.

Alice and I moved quickly to his side, she shook him for a moment; he didn't respond so I scooped him up and exited the room quickly. Alice told the teacher we were taking him to the hospital, which wasn't a lie, before we raced out of the room. The moment we got to the cars, Adam came to. "Emmett put me down" he said lowly and tried to get down from my arms.


	24. Chapter 23

Alice's Pov

Adam hopped down from Emmett's arms looking bemused; he stumbled a little and braced himself with the car door. I quickly told Emmett to go and get everyone from class; they would be beyond upset if we left without telling them anything. "Can you tell me what happened in there Adam?" I asked as I looked him over; he was paler than usual and his pupils were strangely dilated.

He thought about it for a moment before looking back to me, "This amazing smell made me incredibly dizzy" he explained.

"Do you feel better now?"

"A little bit" he offered sounding unsure. I had seen what had happened this time, he was just talking with a girl from the class when his gaze fogged over; he stumbled a little bit before losing consciousness. He had begun to look a little faint again.

"Adam, sit down now" I said sounding harsher than I had intended.

"I'm fine Alice" he disputed.

"Now!" I opened the car door and pushed him onto the seat. He stopped trying to fight me on it thankfully. Rosalie was the first one out the door, she ran over to us.

"It happened again?" she looked between Adam and me. We both just nodded. She looked Adam over for a moment and brushed the pieces of broken wood out of his hair. "What is this from?" She turned to me.

"A lab table, his head took off one of its corners" I explained.

"Rosalie, I'm fine" Adam said trying to calm her down.

She turned on her heals to face him again quickly. "Hush" she hissed at him. "Clearly you are not FINE" he looked down nervously. She pulled out her phone and called Carlisle, she explained what had happened, we could both hear him telling her that he wanted to see him immediately. Jasper was the next out the door; he didn't smother Adam like Rosalie had though even though I could tell he was worried.

Jasper's Pov

I looked Adam over; he looked okay except for his color and his eyes. I was at a loss, I have been around a ton of newborn vampires before but none of them acted like Adam. Once Emmett had rounded everyone up we were on our way to Carlisle's hospital. Rosalie was driving our car, Adam was sitting up front with her and Alice and I were in the back. Adam was staring out the window, his expression was empty and I couldn't read any specific emotions from him. I couldn't decide if that was because of what had happened or how worried Alice and Rosalie were.

I felt a sudden urge to touch Alice; it wasn't a lustful feeling but one of love. I was embarrassed suddenly for feeling this during such an appropriate time. I bit my lip and stared at my feet as the feeling only got worse. Alice was rambling about the possible things that could be causing what was happening to Adam but I wasn't listening.

The moment we arrived at the hospital both Carlisle and Esme were waiting for us. Carlisle took Adam and the rest of us inside and to his office immediately. We watched as Carlisle looked Adam over for a while. Everyone's worry was making me exhausted. I sat down in one of the few chairs Carlisle had in his office. Alice gave me a soft smile before sitting in my lap. She had been there for no more than five minutes before my hands began to wander. She swatted the top of my hand each time before turning and looking at me. "What is wrong with you?" she was glaring.

Everyone turned and looked at us; if I could blush I'm sure I would be beet red. "I…nothing…I'm sorry" I stammered out. What on earth was wrong with me, my brain was screaming at me to pull it together but I couldn't. I finally got up and walked out the room. The feelings I was suffering left me quickly. I paced around outside by the cars waiting for everyone to return.

Esme's Pov

Something was wrong with Adam, our kind doesn't just pass out the way he was. My mind was frantic as I tried to think about what could be making him act like this; I could think of nothing. All he had really remembered was talking to his new lab partner, smelling something that he described as being incredible and then everything went black. All Carlisle knew was that this was exactly what had happened on Monday.

Carlisle asked me to take Adam home; he wanted to speak to the rest of the kids in private. Adam for once didn't argue as I took him down to the car.

Edward's Pov

Carlisle spent a good twenty minutes explaining to us to keep an eye on Adam, something he didn't really need to emphasize but he did anyway. Alice and Emmett both thought the cause of his passing out was his new lab partner, they didn't vocalize these feelings though. They both seemed to know that if Rosalie knew she would try to force him to change his schedule around.

****

Esme had made Adam spend only a day in bed this time, when the school called to check up on Adam she stated that he had just gotten nervous and the problems he had with his blood pressure had caused him to faint. She said he had a minor concussion but would be back to school the next day.

Having to stay in his room was torture for Adam; he spent his entire time reading his textbooks at his top speed. He made it through about one class's book every two hours. Everyone's thoughts were in disarray, all of us were trying to figure out what was going on with Adam. Adam finally ventured out of his room at around six in the morning. I could hear him pleading with Esme to let him go to school; the thought of another day stuck in bed was driving him bonkers. He worked her over well, emphatically calling her Mom every chance he had. She always struggled telling him no. I laughed as she finally gave in; he thanked her, kissed her on the cheek and took off upstairs; he was good.

Adam's Pov

I bolted upstairs and got a shower before going to knock on Alice's door, I knew I was about to open my own personal Pandora's Box but I didn't care. "Alice? Can you help me pick out an outfit for school?" I blurted out. The door opened quickly and Alice was beaming.

"Really?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I want to look nice today" I said truthfully. She hurried into my room and began rummaging through my closet. It took her about half an hour before she settled on five options. She made me try all of them on before she made a decision. She had settled on a snug fitting Ralph Lauren sweater and a pair of khakis. Instead of gelling my hair up in messy spikes I combed it down neatly. I've got to admit, Alice is good; I looked great.

I manipulated Mom a little more and got her to let me drive myself again, which was an added bonus. I spent the entire morning looking around the halls thinking about Lisa and the phenomenal smell that had filled my brain the day before. I wanted to smell it all of the time; it was like I was addicted. It was consuming all of my thoughts. My morning classes dragged on for an eternity, but now I only had lunch left to sit through before I had chemistry.

I joined my family at our normal table, everyone but Alice had arrived before me. I turned to Emmett who was sitting next to me and asked where she was, he just shrugged and gave a smug smile. It was the look he had when he was up to something. I looked to the door for Alice, I smiled as I finally saw her, she was talking with someone but I couldn't tell who because of the people standing in front of her. Rosalie was harping angrily about something that had happened in one of her classes. I finally turned to listen to what she was saying as the volume of her voice rose. She was really hard to tune out when she went off like this.

I rolled my eyes and huffed, mocking the face she just made. After huffing I took in a deep breath, the amazing smell that had been on my mind all day filled my nose. I looked around for the source just as Alice walked up with Lisa at her side.

"Hey Adam, how's your head? Alice says you had a bit of concussion," I looked to her and then to Alice, what was Alice doing. I felt calming waves rolling over me, Jasper's doing no doubt.

I just stared at her; Emmett finally elbowed me in the ribs as Lisa began to look concerned with my silence. "Uh..yeah…good…I've got a hard head." I stammered out like a fool.

"Would you like to have lunch with us?" Emmett asked looking at Lisa, I could have strangled him right there.

"That would be great" she smiled sweetly, her smile made my head spin, Jasper must have noticed as I felt another wave of calm roll over me. I looked to him thankfully. Alice pulled up a spare chair and pushed it between Bella, who was on my other side, and me. I shot her a quick look, what were they trying to do to me? "Are you sure you're alright Adam?" she asked me gently, her voice sounded like music in my head.

"Hmmm?" I mumbled.

"You seem pretty out of it, are you sure you're okay?"

"Oh, yeah I'm fine" I said quickly, I hadn't realized but I had stopped breathing, her glorious smell was eating through my consciousness. I was having difficulty paying attention to the conversations that were going on at the table, Alice, Emmett and Bella were actively engaging Lisa in conversation but everyone else stayed relatively quiet. Jasper was strangely frisky in his actions towards Alice, he didn't seem like he could keep his hands off of her, this made Edward stifle a laugh because every time Jasper would reach Alice would swat at him, he must have heard something in their thoughts.

The bell rang after one of the longest hours of my life; Lisa got up and gave me a wave after telling me she'd see me in Chemistry. Once she was away from the table I turned to Alice. "What on earth was that? What are you trying to do to me?"

Jasper didn't allow her to answer; he looked at me with urgency. "You're in love! I just figured out where those feelings are coming from, whenever you see her I have to fight every urge in my body to keep my hands off of Alice!" He was rambling excitedly.

"I told you!" Emmett boomed and slapped his palm on the table excitedly as he pointed to Alice; this must have been what he was scheming when lunch first began. I felt mortified.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about" I stammered out and got up from the table quickly, going straight for the door.


	25. Chapter 24

Adam's Pov

I was furious with Jasper even though I knew it wasn't his fault, he had just told me something I should have already known. He headed to my locker without looking at anyone. I couldn't deal with going to class right now but I wanted to spend more time with Lisa. I needed sometime to be alone with my thoughts. I wanted to pursue Lisa like I would have a month ago but I can't do that now. I was a dangerous predator, I knew this. I was designed to kill people. I couldn't put her in that sort of danger; Jasper has told me stories about how the newborns he had dealt with. I didn't feel like that, I've never felt the urge to kill a human but I didn't know if it would stay that way. I couldn't risk that happening; I just needed to stay away from her.

I nodded to myself and grabbed my chemistry book before walking in to class. Thankfully no one was there yet; I took a seat at my desk and pulled out my notebook. I looked up as Emmett and Alice made their way in, Emmett gave me a sympathetic smile, Alice was just grinning at me. They weren't going to make this easy. In my family there was very little privacy. With our hearing and everyone's powers, it was very difficult to keep any secrets.

"Hey" I looked up as Lisa smiled at me. She was beautiful; she wasn't wearing makeup, it was just an incredible natural beauty. Her hair was blonde, more of a honey color actually. I took in an unnecessary breath, greedily breathing in her sent, it was heavenly. . It wouldn't be easy to just blow her off and I don't think I could do that to her anyway.

"Hi" I croaked out; look at me, I am an immortal vampire that's supposed to be one of the graceful creatures on earth and she made me sound like I was an idiot.

"You stayed pretty quiet during lunch" she observed as she sat down next to me.

"I…uh….yeah" she smiled.

"I guess with that big family of yours it's hard to get a word in edgewise, Alice certainly is a talker" I laughed knowing they were listening.

"Yeah, she's a piece of work" she smiled and playing a little with her hair. She was even blushing; my brain was screaming at me, telling me to stop, telling me to it was better to just leave her alone. We stopped talking when the teacher walked in; I was relieved when she put a movie on and went back to her desk, grading exams for another class of hers. Lisa watched the movie for about ten minutes before sliding a piece of notebook paper to me. Scribed in neat handwriting, "You are very strange Adam Penn" was written across the top.

I found myself smiling at this; I nervously ran my hand through my hair, messing it up. I chewed on my bottom lip as I thought about what to write back. I finally scribbled down "You have no idea" and slid it over to her.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?" she wrote back.

"Not a bad kind of uncomfortable" I scrawled back.

"I didn't realize there was a good kind of uncomfortable" I smiled as she continued to write. We continued this conversation for the rest of class, we didn't discuss anything of consequence but we filled up half a dozen sheets of paper with corny jokes and goofy observations; when the bell rang she gave me a wave before taking off. I went to my locker trying to avoid my family, Alice had started to follow me but Emmett had stopped her, he could tell I didn't want to talk about this. I waited for the halls to clear out before walking to my car; I pulled out my keys and tossed my backpack into the passenger seat. I slapped the steering wheel, frustrated with myself. I shouldn't feel good like this after being with her; I wanted to keep as far away from her as possible. I needed to sort my thoughts out so I turned my phone off and just started driving.

Alice's Pov

I wanted to talk to Adam, to know what he was feeling; I had stopped getting visions of Adam when he turned and that was driving me crazy. I wanted to know if this Lisa would be safe around him. He was yet to exhibit any bloodlust at all but as Jasper reminded me frequently, it could set in any second. I didn't know how to feel about this new girl in his life; she was a really sweet girl but Adam was a vampire, not a usual vampire but a vampire never the less. He looked happy when she was talking to him. He only got that dazed look a few times during chemistry; if it was indeed her that was causing him to pass out he seemed to be getting over it.

Emmett reminded me that it was none of my business, I didn't believe that though. He was my baby brother, he always would be. I wanted him to be happy and I could tell she made him happy. They wrote notes back and forth during class and that was driving Emmett and me nuts. If I didn't know any better I would have thought she knew we'd hear them whisper. She had giggled a few times in class but covered it up well. She liked him that much I could tell.

They both left class quickly, I headed off to find Jasper; we had the rest of our afternoons together. He asked me about Adam immediately, he was convinced Adam was angry with him. I told him that Adam would get over it even if he was. That did little to ease his worries, Adam had stormed out of lunch which was something he never did. He was always cool and collected; emotion's seemed to be a non factor with Adam. That was until today at least.

When school ended for the day we went outside to the cars, Adam's was already gone. Bella looked frustrated, "he wasn't in our history class" she explained so quietly I could barely hear her even with my hearing. I groaned and looked around; Rosalie was going to be so pissed. I had hoped that he had just gone home early but he wasn't there when we arrived.

"Where's your brother?" Esme asked me the moment we got into the door.

"Um…" I chewed on my lip. "We don't know" I admitted.

"What do you mean you don't know?" her voice jumped about two octaves.

"He sort of freaked out at lunch and he missed his last class with Bella" I said looking down at my feet.

"Why did he freak out?" I sighed as Jasper explained the story to her. "He's in love?"

"Oh yes, very much so" Jasper smirked when he said this.

"With a human girl?" She sighed as Jasper nodded. She began to ask us about her when Rosalie cut in.

"Why does it matter? It's not like he can have a future with her" I sighed, we've had this argument before.

"Stop it, if Adam wants to pursue this girl than you will not interfere" Esme chided her. She rolled her eyes. "Do you understand me?" She waited for Rosalie to nod. Rosalie would interfere though, she was too protective of Adam to begin with, and she hated it when other girls paid attention to him. In her eyes no one would be good enough for him.

Adam's Pov

I loved driving my car; driving had become second nature for me, it was where I could think. I was very upset with myself, I needed to keep away from Lisa but that isn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to spend every single moment with her. We couldn't have a relationship though, I was dangerous and even if I wasn't she wouldn't want anything to do with me if she found out what I really was. My heart didn't even beat; if she ever found out she would think I was a freak.

I drove until it was dark and then I kept driving until the tank was empty. I stopped at some gas station in Ohio, I needed to go home, I didn't tell anyone I was leaving and I'm sure they were starting to worry. I pulled out my phone, turning it on I groaned when I say I had fifteen voicemails. I listened to them as I filled the car up with gas. Most of the calls were Rosalie, shouting at me about being inconsiderate. It was pretty terrible of me to just leave the way I did. I thought about who I could call and not be screamed at. I dialed Bella's phone as I started driving back.

"Adam where are you?" She shouted into the phone. I chose wrong.

"Bella, I'm fine, I'm driving back now" I heard Rosalie's shouting on the end. "I will be back soon okay?" I mumbled into the phone and hung up. I got home much quicker, it was around 2 in the morning when I got home. It was sort of late but that didn't matter now since I no longer sleep. That was the only weird part about being a vampire; I had so much more time on my hands now. I guess I should be getting used to this; I had an eternity of it to look forward to.

**A/N – Sorry this took a while I've been dealing with some writer's block, I hadn't really planned on writing this far initially but I like the characters so I think I'll keep it up. If you like it, tell me hopefully it will motivate me to keep writing.**


	26. Chapter 25

Adam's Pov

"Where were you?" Esme's voice was so high it almost frightened me.

"I'm sorry mom, I just needed some time alone" I said softly. She hugged me tightly, I felt terrible; her worry for me was obvious.

"You can have time alone, you just need to tell us alright?" her voice had returned to somewhat of a normal level. "You aren't driving for a week okay?" I nodded, it wasn't an unfair punishment I guess, I had skipped school and left for about ten hours. "Good, now are you alright? Do you need to talk; Jasper told me what happened at school" Jasper, that punk, a low growl escaped my lips. "Okay, okay no talking, that's fine" Mom said quickly.

"Mom, I'm alright" I said softly before bolting up to my room and locking my door; the last thing I wanted to do tonight was talk about this. I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed. I looked nothing like myself. I grumbled and pulled my sweater off, quickly tossing it in the hamper. I took a quick shower and came back out. I dug through my t-shirt drawer and pulled out my favorite Pink Floyd shirt. I gave it a good sniff, a smile crossed my face; it was clean. I pulled it on, it was a little tight on me; I had gained an odd amount of muscle mass over the past few weeks. I completed my outfit with a pair of beat up jeans; that was more like it.

I plopped down on my bed and grabbed my tattered copy of On the Road, it was own version of comfort food. I read it from cover to cover before I heard Alice calling for me to get ready for school. I took another hard look at myself in the mirror. I hadn't done anything with my hair after my shower, it sat in a messy pile on the top of my head; it looked good.

I made sure my backpack was packed and headed downstairs. My coat, which I had left in my car was hanging on the coat rack, I pulled it on and noticed my keys were missing. Mom was serious about the no driving thing. "Come on, you're coming with me" Alice smiled as she walked by me; she was able to read me like a book.

I sighed and followed her to the car. Emmett and Rosalie were already in the back of Edward's when we got to the garage. I climbed into the back with a swift jump, Alice turned and started to yell at me but when she saw me smiling she stopped. Edward started his car and they were off without a word.

"Hey, are we good?" Jasper turned around and looked at me nervously.

"Yeah, we're good, I'm sorry about yesterday." I apologized.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you like that, I just got a little excited when I figured out what was going on" he explained. I just nodded, I still didn't want to talk about this with them but thankfully he could tell this. I gave him a gracious smile when he dropped the subject.

Jasper's Pov

I could feel frustration rolling off Adam in waves; he was really struggling with this whole Lisa thing. Alice was pleased at least, she had been in awful mood until Adam had gotten home last night, the entire house had been but Esme asked us to let it slide, he was dealing with a lot right now. He had found someone that he wanted to be with and he knew that he couldn't, it must be terrible.

I had spent the better half of an hour convincing Alice not to invite Lisa to our table for lunch again, if he wanted to sit with her he needed to decide that. While Alice was just trying to help, she was meddling in his life and he didn't like it.

He got out of the car the moment it stopped and headed inside. I didn't see him again until lunch, when he came in he had a goofy grin on his face. "What's gotten into you?" I couldn't help but ask as he sat down.

He held up his hand and waited until everyone sat down. "Would it be alright with you guys if Lisa joined us?" he asked nervously, everyone nodded except for Rosalie. I was concerned about whether or not it would be safe for her but as long as he was surrounded by six other vampires he couldn't hurt her.

"Rosalie butt out" Alice said harshly, Rosalie grumbled then just shrugged.

"Fine but don't come to me when this blows up in your face" Adam looked hurt by her words.

"Ignore her okay?" Alice rubbed his back and pointed to Lisa who was walking over. Adam got a chair for her and put it between him and Alice. I groaned in agony as the urge to touch Alice warmed me. Edward let out a laugh as he looked at me; I shot him a glare and looked down at my plate.

"Hi everyone" Lisa smiled at us before sitting down. Everyone politely said their hellos, even Rosalie.

Adam's Pov

I felt strangely comfortable today; it wasn't at all like yesterday. I had made my decision to pursue Lisa as if I was just a normal human. I knew I was being selfish but I didn't care, I wanted to be happy and I wanted to be with her. I didn't want to think about what to tell her if the time came that she realized I wasn't normal. I would figure that out if the time came.

I smiled as I looked at Lisa, she looked great today, no makeup like I expected, she was wearing a red polo shirt and skinny jeans. I smiled as Jasper reached for Alice under the table. He was struggling more today than he had been before. I took comfort in knowing I wasn't the only tortured one when Lisa was around.

"How are you?" She turned to me, a perfect smile on her lips.

"I good, how you?" I looked at her, how you? Really? I should be more eloquent than this. I shook my head in self disgust.

"I'm good" She laughed.

"How you Alice?" Emmett mocked with a hearty chuckle.

"Good, how you?" She joined him in his mockery; her laughter was cut short when I glared at her. I continued to chat with Lisa as she ate. Everyone but Rosalie had actively joined us in our banter.

When the bell rang signaling the end of lunch I got up, slinging my bag over my shoulder. I bent over and picked up her bag as well. A huge smile crossed Alice's face as she watched. Lisa just smiled and grabbed her tray. She tossed her trash into the garbage and walked with me to our class.

**A/N – What do you think so far? Please keep reviewing; I'm debating whether or not to kill this story**


	27. Chapter 26

Edward's Pov

It's been about two months since we moved to Pittsburgh and Thanksgiving break was approaching. Adam has finally started to act like himself again. He's been dating Lisa now for a month now and I was happy for him. Carlisle had determined that his little fainting spells were his body's reaction to some form of bloodlust, that's when I stopped being overly concerned for Lisa's safety. If the only thing that happened if he lost control would be him passing out, she was safe in my mind. The rest of the family warmed up to the idea of her as well, except for Rosalie that is. She knew that our secret would finally come out; it's not exactly something that is easy to hide for a long period of time. She was convinced that when she found out she wouldn't want anything to do with him and knew if that was the case it would break his heart.

I smiled as Adam made his way downstairs, his hair looked as if he'd been sleeping but I knew that just how it looked after he spent a long night reading. There was already a six inches of snow on the ground which wasn't strange for the end of November. He had on a pair of black knit gloves, I knew he didn't need them to stay warm but when he had gloves on he had no hesitation about holding Lisa's hand.

"You look like a bum" said in a sing-song voice, smiling at him. He was in a beat up t-shirt and tattered jeans.

"Yeah, I was planning on going downtown today to beg for some money so I can get your Christmas gift Alice" he grinned at her, he had learned how to handle Alice and her comments. We were going to celebrate Christmas this year, it isn't something we normally did but Esme and Carlisle wanted us to have our first real Christmas with Adam, at least the first that he remembered.

"What are you doing after school today?" Esme looked to Adam.

"I'm going to Lisa's after school to help her write an English paper" he explained.

"Alright," Esme smiled, "You know you should invite her to come with us on our ski trip" I watched Adam's eyes light up.

"Really?"

"Yes really, the house we rented for the week has more than enough bedrooms for everyone. She will be in her own room though, is that understood?" I laughed to myself at this.

"Of course" Adam nodded quickly and smiled. I wish he hadn't been able to block me out of his head; I would love to know what he was thinking right now.

_Oh this is going to be so much fun, maybe I can take her shopping_. I laughed softly and looked to Alice who just glared at me. _Don't you ruin my fun Edward. _Jasper had managed to get himself under control whenever Adam was around Lisa, part of me wished he hadn't it was fun to watch him struggle so hard not to grope Alice.

Emmett really liked Lisa; I didn't even need to read his thoughts to know this. He had started making sure he could sit next to her during our lunches. Not that I blame him, she really was a great girl. She had a fantastic sense of humor and she loved poking fun at Adam, both qualities that earned her respect in Emmett's mind. Rosalie wasn't as upset with this as I would have expected, she still thinks this is going to blow up in his face but I had heard Emmett one night, when Adam was out on a date, pleading with her to let him make his own mistakes.

"Thanks mom!" he pulled Esme into a hug and kissed her cheek before heading down to his car. He waved to us and said he'd see us at school, with that he was off. Lisa lived a few miles from us and Adam loved bringing her to school. She had her own car of course but in Adam's mind their rides to and from school was just more time they could spend together.

Adam's Pov

I always drove with the top down, especially when I was going to pick up Lisa; if it was cold enough I could steal a quick kiss from her before she yelled at me to put the top down. I was glad it was so cold here during the winters, even if Lisa ever commented on how cold my skin was it would be explained away by the weather.

I climbed from the car with ease; Mr. Healey was outside shoveling the drive. "Good morning sir" I smiled at him as I approached.

He smiled back at me, "Hey Adam, Lisa is running a little late, she overslept this morning" he explained.

"That's fine, would you like some help?" I offered. He looked me up and down for a moment before pointed to an extra shovel hanging in the garage. I got it and began to shovel with him.

"Ya know, you're a pretty good kid Adam" he turned to me after about five minutes.

"Well, thank you sir" I smiled politely, Mr. Healey had always liked me, not as much as his wife but he trusted me with his daughter which was all I could really ask of him.

"I'm serious, most kids cringe at the thought of manual labor and here you are volunteering to help" he smiled softly at me as the door opened and Lisa walked out. I quickly returned the shovel to its place in the garage and walked back over to Lisa, I took her hand in my gloved hand as we walked down to my car.

"Sorry for running late, I overslept" she said softly to me.

"It's fine, it was nice to get to help your Dad out a bit" she laughed at this and rolled her eyes.

"Right" I opened the car door for her and waited for her to sit before closing the door. "Adam, I've told you before you need to start putting the top up on this puppy, it's freezing out here" she whined as I started the car.

"Sorry babe, I always forget" I pouted my lip a little before flipping a few switches and putting the top up. "So how did you sleep?" I asked as I kissed her cheek.

"Great" she smiled and cupped my face with her hands and pulled me to face her again, she kissed me this time. I finally pulled my head back after a minute or so. "See this is why the top needs to go up, you are absolutely freezing"

"I'm fine, it's not that bad" I smiled at her.

"Oh yeah, a tough guy huh?" she teased.

"Absolutely" I smiled and gave her a quick peck on the forehead before pulling out of the driveway. "So, I know you're family is staying in town for Thanksgiving, what do you think about coming skiing with my family in Vermont?" I just blurted it out; I mentally smacked myself for being so blunt.

"A week with your family?" she asked looking at me, she seemed excitement.

"Well yeah they'd be there too but I was going more for the angle of a week with me" I smiled at her, over the past two months I have been able to perfect what I like to call selective hearing. My hearing was much more advanced than everyone else's; it made paying attention really difficult. With a lot of concentration I was now able to tune out all sounds except for the one I really wanted to hear, which always ended up being Lisa's voice.

"Of course I want to come, just let me talk to my parents first" she was beaming at me, she looked incredible when she smiled this way.

****

Lisa had managed to get permission from her parents to come with us on our vacation which was fantastic. Friday had been our last day of classes and we flew into Burlington and rented three cars before driving to this great cabin Esme had found. It was right on the side of the slopes, the moment we got there Emmett and Jasper ran off to purchase a week's worth of lift tickets for everyone. Everyone already had their own ski's too, even Lisa who has been skiing for years. Emmett had helped me pick out my 'ski-blades' a week ago.

When we got in it was obvious Lisa was tired, so I showed her to her room. She, Alice and Jasper had a bathroom between their rooms to share; Mom had put me in the room all way on the other side of the hall next to Rosalie and Emmett's room.

I was going out of my mind with boredom while she slept. Mom had reminded us all that we needed to stay quiet so I just laid on my bed and read until morning. The smell of bacon filled my nose around seven; I got up quickly and made my way downstairs. I looked to mom for some sort of explanation she just smiled at me and said, "She needs to eat, I haven't forgotten that."

"Thanks mom" I smiled at her and sat down at the breakfast nook. I picked up a piece of bacon and rubbed it on my plate before tossing it in the trash. I also broke up a piece of toast and put parts of it on as well before throwing out the rest. I smiled to myself as I examined my work; it looked as if I'd eaten. Lisa was up in no time, the smell of bacon can get almost any human out of bed. She ate her breakfast and thanked Esme for cooking it.

We were on the slopes by eight and I couldn't have been happier; Lisa was a great skier. We started off with some easy slopes for the morning but by lunch time we were challenging ourselves, well actually just her, with some black diamond slopes.

We found ourselves on an un-groomed slope that snaked away from the rest of the mountain. I allowed Lisa to get a little ahead of me so I could watch her in case something happened. About half way down her ski tip got stuck on a branch; I moved in quickly behind her and caught her before she fell. I braced myself around her as we fell; forming a little cage with my limbs to make sure she wouldn't get hurt.

Once we stopped sliding I looked her over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, how about you?" she grimaced when she saw my shattered ski blade.

"I'm fine" I assured her. I had forgotten that I was still lying on top of her. My eyes widened and I started to get up.

"No, stay right here" she pulled my gloved hand into hers. She kissed me tenderly and I started to concentrate on only hearing her. It took me about five minutes but her voice was the only thing I could hear.

We lay in the snow and talked for hours. I was in absolute ecstasy; it was cold enough that I could kiss her without worrying about anything at all. I had moved to being on my knees, lifting my weight off of Lisa while we kissed. By only being able to hear her, it felt like we were the only two people anywhere and I loved that feeling.

Our perfect moment shattered when I heard Lisa scream though, I turned quickly, just in time to have a mammoth black bear swat at me. The bear's strong arm caught me off guard and it tossed me into a tree. Lisa screamed my name, by doing so she brought it's attention back to herself. I hopped effortlessly onto it's back and pulled it down; instinct took over as I snapped its neck. I quickly got back to my feet and looked at Lisa, this is not how this was supposed to happen; this isn't how I wanted her to find out.

I looked away from her as Emmett sprinted into the clearing, he must have been with Alice. No sooner than I thought it, Alice Rosalie and Jasper ran into the clearing as well. "Are you okay?" Alice asked me quickly, I nodded and looked back to Lisa.

"Are you alright?" I asked, my voice cracking in my throat.

A/N – Next chapter we will be hearing from Lisa's Pov for the first time while she demands an explanation from Adam.


	28. Chapter 27

Emmett's Pov

I looked at Lisa with concern; they had just been attacked by a freaking black bear. The smell of blood filled my nostrils I looked her over seeing a nasty series of cuts from the claw of the bear. Adam moved to her side and helped her up; he looked over the wound and looked to Alice. "Call Carlisle, she's going to need stitches" his voice was full of pain. Lisa just looked at him, a combination of shock and awe on her face.

Lisa's Pov

I was having difficulty processing what had just happened; a bear had attacked us, it had thrown Adam into a tree and was about to tear into me when Adam jumped on it. He killed it with his bare hands. I tried to ignore the stinging in my arm but Adam said it needed stitches. I didn't know what to say to him, I couldn't believe what had just happened.

I saw the tears in Adam's ski jacket, the same claw pattern that was on my arm. My concern for him pushed my questions back while I turned him to me and examined the tears. "Lisa, I'm fine" his angelic voice was trembling. He was right, there were no wounds on him at all; how was the possible?

"How?" was all I could say. His gaze went from me to his family; Emmett, the big goofy teddy bear gave a sad nod to him.

"I'm not like you Lisa" his voice was still trembling. "I can't be hurt the way you can"

"What do you mean?" I looked at him unsure as he looked back. Whatever he was about to tell me pained him deeply, I could see it in his eyes. I listened as he explained that he and his family were vampires, he said much more than just that but that was all I heard. Vampires were make-believe monsters, not gorgeous young men. I didn't believe him and all I could muster up was "Prove it"

Adam sighed and looked around for a moment, I watched as he picked up a rock that was visible under the snow. He held it in his hands for a minute before locking his hands around it, it shattered in seconds. He looked back up at me, those deep blue eyes full of so much pain. It took me another couple of minutes before I could speak again. "Let's, for argument's sake, say you are a vampire, why haven't you tried to kill me yet" Is that what you do? Make nice with some girl before you make her your meal?" I was angry at him for not telling me sooner; I didn't think he would ever hurt me though. My words wounded him; a low growl escaped the lips of his sister Rosalie's lips, it startled me that such a frightening sound had come out of such a beautiful person.

"Rosalie, NO!" Adam shouted "I deserve that" his voice was much lower now. He looked down at his feet for a moment before looking back at me. "I don't eat people, Lisa" his voice was shaking as much as his hands were.

"You just said you were a vampire, Adam" he looked back at me and nodded.

"We feed on animals, I've never killed anyone, ever Lisa" I knew he was telling me the truth but I was still furious with him. We have told each other almost everything over the past month; I've never felt so close to another person before. How do you just leave out the fact that you are an immortal vampire that only eats animals? He lifted my arm and examined my cuts again, his touch was feather soft. I found myself engulfed in his deep blue eyes. He would never hurt me.

"Lisa, you are bleeding still. Can I please take you back to the cabin so my father can take a look at that?" His voice was so timid but it still had that same musical quality that had assisted in making me fall in love with him. There was the small logical part of my brain that told me I was crazy; maybe I am but I trust him. I nodded and he lifted me up and into his arms gently. He was walking quickly but it didn't feel like it at all. I felt very safe in his arms. I could hear his siblings behind us, they were moving just as quickly. It felt like only a few minutes had passed but I was now on the couch in the living room of his cabin.

Carlisle, his father, was looking at the cuts down my arm. I winced as he began to clean them. He looked a lot like his father but whenever his mother looked at me I felt like I was looking into Adam's eyes. I looked around the room as I saw six pairs of concerned eyes looking back at me. I felt silly for thinking even for a second that they would hurt me. Even his often bitchy sister looked worried for me. I looked back down at my arm; Adam's father had already stitched up two of the cuts. I was amazed I had hardly felt a thing.

I jumped involuntarily as the door to the cabin flew open, I sighed relieved when I realized it was just Emmett. "What took you so long?" his sister Alice asked narrowing her eyes at him.

"That bear was freaking delicious" Everyone but Adam laughed, Adam just glared at him looking embarrassed. A smile formed on my lips, I really liked Emmett, he had already become the older brother that I had never had; I hated being an only child. An awkward silence filled the room again.

"Well at least you didn't let it go to waste" I smiled at him trying to ease the tension. I didn't want them to think I feared them, I didn't. I still was furious with Adam though.


	29. Chapter 28

Adam's Pov

I looked at Lisa in awe, she had just made a joke about Emmett eating a bear; she didn't seem to be afraid of us. Carlisle finished stitching up her arm and told her she would be fine. The wound didn't look too bad but it wasn't something I wanted to explain to her parents, they trusted me to keep her safe, I hadn't done that. Instead I had been selfishly focusing on just her, I had used my gifts to turn off the world around me and she was injured because of it. I felt a guilty knot form in my stomach; I took in a deep breath and stared at my ski boots.

"You and I need to talk" she pointed at me. I looked up, getting lost in those magnificent green eyes.

"Okay" I croaked out and walked over to her on the couch; I took her hand in mine and helped her up. I walked with her up to my room. She sat down on my bed and stared at me for a moment; when she opened her mouth to talk I raised my hand. "Hold on" I dug through my bag and got my iPod out and its portable speakers. I sat them down and turned up the volume as Pink Floyds album The Wall blared out.

"What are you doing?" She looked at me confused.

"Aw that's not fair Adam!" I heard Emmett booming from down stairs.

"We have really good hearing, this way they can't eavesdrop as easily" I explained with a soft smile.

"Right…" she took in a deep breath, anger building in her face. "Why didn't you tell me?!" her voice rose as she shouted at me.

"I…." I was at a loss for words; this is what she was upset about?

"You what? I thought we agreed to tell each other everything." She got to her feet and approached me. I was a little afraid of her; she was small but I've never heard her shout before.

"It's not something you mention on the first date Lisa" I explained in a whimper.

"We are well past that point and you know it" she pushed her index finger into my chest as she scolded me. I took in another deep unnecessary breath.

"I'm sorry, I'll understand if you don't want anything to do with me, I can take you to the airport right now" I offered; this only pissed her off more.

"Stop it, I didn't say that and I would appreciate if you didn't put words into my mouth, I want to know why you waited so long to tell me? Are you afraid I'm going to tell people? I hope you have a little more faith in me than that." She looked incredibly beautiful when she yelled.

"I…I just…it's not exactly normal" I stammered out.

"How about you let me decide what is and isn't normal okay?" she pushed her finger into my chest again. "No more secrets okay? None" she emphasized it with another poke into my chest. I looked at her very surprised.

"You aren't afraid of me?" I asked softly.

"I thought you were a vampire, not stupid. Damn it Adam I love you, can't you see that?" She was still yelling. I groaned as I heard Alice "Aww" from downstairs. "You aren't going to hurt me, I know that" her tone was softer now. She pulled me into her arms "I trust you, you destroyed a freaking bear to protect me" I looked down and into her eyes; she was smiling at me now.

"I love you too" the words rolled out of my mouth like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Good" she smiled and brought her lips to mine; we stayed like this for a few minutes before I felt her shiver. She was freezing. "You need to get warmed up" I said finally breaking our embrace. I walked her to her room and helped her get her jacket off. She gave me a quick kiss before heading into the bathroom for a shower. I went back into my room and changed out of my torn ski attire, I changed into a thick sweater and a pair of jeans before waiting on my bed for her to finish up.

**A/N – Shorter chapter, thanks for the reviews guys**


	30. Chapter 29

Adam's Pov

I groaned audibly as Alice poked her head in my door. "How'd it go?" She smirked.

"Like you don't already know" I rolled my eyes.

"It was just sooo cute" she grinned. "My baby brother is in love"

"Alice please tone it down for a few days, she's reacted well so far but it is still a lot to take in" I pled with her softly.

"Fine, don't keep her up here all night though" I nodded and smiled as she walked out. I listened to them as they chatted downstairs. Lisa took a pretty quick shower and came out dressed in a pair of sweatpants from her soccer team and a thick cardigan over a Shins t-shirt. She looked perfect.

"So, I have a few questions for you, okay?" She asked as she climbed onto my bed. I was leaning against the head board; she took my hand in hers and sat next to me.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know" I gently squeezed her hand.

Lisa's Pov

His hand was ice cold; I've never noticed this before. I needed more answers; I wanted to understand what being a vampire really meant for him. "You're immortal right?" I broke the obvious silence that had filled the room.

"Yes, I am an immortal" he said simply.

"How old are you really?" I followed up, I knew he was sixteen physically but now that I thought about it, he always acted much older.

"I turned sixteen last summer; I thought I was only fifteen though up until a few months ago." I motioned for a further explanation. He told me everything; he explained to me that he was the first ever child born to two vampires. He had what seemed like a happy childhood, but he didn't remember any of it. There was a pain in his voice when he talked about his life; that pain alleviated though when he talked about the recent months. He really loved being with his family, he would do anything for them and they for him.

"So how can someone who is a human, like me, become a vampire?" I asked curiously.

"You don't" he said instantly, a cloudy look furrowed his brow, I was sure he was lying but I also knew he didn't want to talk about it. I decided to let it go, for now. I started to feel exhausted, I looked to the clock next to the bed; we had been talking for hours. I groaned as my stomach rumbled; I had forgotten to eat any dinner. He looked down at my stomach and suddenly looked angry. "Crap, I keep forgetting you need to eat" he sat upright.

I was hungry but I didn't care, I wanted to stay up here with Adam. I pulled him back down and he started to laugh. "My stomach can wait" he smiled and put his arm around my shoulder. I smiled contently and rested my head on his shoulder, I found myself breathing in his scent. He smelled subtly of vanilla. It was a fitting smell for him, vanilla is one of the most complex flavors in the world but most people underestimate its worth.

We lay together on his bed for a few minutes before there was a soft knocking on his door, his mom opened the door; she had a sandwich on the plate she was carrying. I was about to ask how she knew but Adam just laughed and reminded me that everyone had incredible hearing and Edward could read my mind. "Feed the girl" she gave Adam a light hearted scolding. "You should get to bed soon honey; you'll be tired tomorrow if you don't. Alice wants to take you shopping for a new jacket" I smiled, of course Alice with her unhealthy obsession with shopping.

Adam and I continued chatting as I ate, when I finished he walked me across the hall to my room. "I'll see you in the morning, Okay?" he asked looking timid again. I just pulled him to me and kissed his nose, he looked adorable when I did this. I told him good night and lay down for a restless night.

****

Alice's Pov

I could hardly contain myself, Christmas was only a week away and we were going to really celebrate this year. It would be our first time celebrating since we had to give Adam up. Jasper and I had just spent the weekend in New York looking for gifts. I had gotten Adam a 1st edition copy of Kerouac's On the Road, it was his favorite book. He would love the gift, I've seen it, he of course would give me a hard time about how much I spent but he'd love it. It was difficult to buy gifts for people in my family, no one really needed anything but I had found some great thoughtful things.

It was the last day of the school for the year; it was also the night of the winter formal. I was excited of course, I loved taking Jasper dancing. Lisa wanted to go so Adam had to be there, it was going to be a family affair. We took Adam shopping for a tux, he found a great one. The moment school let out we headed home, the guys went for a quick hunt; they wanted there to be zero distractions tonight.

We took a while to get ready, everyone looked great. Adam made his way downstairs right before we needed to leave. He looked adorable; his hair was gelled up neatly and he had a perfect smile plastered on his face. Esme was snapping dozens of photos. We stood as a family and took a wonderful shot of all of us using the camera's timer.

"Mom, I really need to pick Lisa up, I can't be late" he smiled and dug around for his keys.

"Okay, okay just one more picture, just you and I" she handed me the camera and stood with Adam by the door. She looked like she was about to burst with happiness, she was seeing her son off to his first dance. It was as close to a perfect moment that I've ever seen. I snapped a few more photos before he took off out the door.

Adam's Pov

I've been thinking about the concept of eternity a lot lately. I was looking forward to an eternity with Lisa. She had finally asked again about becoming a vampire, it wasn't a conversation that I had been looking forward to. It wasn't as terrible as it could have been, I explained to her about the process but she could tell I didn't want this life for her. We had agreed to not discuss it again until we finished high school. I wanted her life to be as normal as possible. If I had my way she would always be human but she wouldn't let that happen, at least I didn't think so.

She told me that she wanted to be with me forever and the thought of that made eternity a positive thing. I was looking forward to being with her forever. I stopped the car as I pulled in front of her house, my stomach was fluttering; I was nervous. I smiled at myself and I grabbed the flowers in the seat next to mine; there were a dozen red roses that Esme had picked up for me. Lisa told me her gown was red and I was really hoping they would match. I checked myself in the mirror before hopping out and going to the door.

I knocked lightly and Mr. Healey opened the door; he looked me over and smiled. "How are you Adam?"

"Great sir, how are you?" I smiled back at him.

"Is that Adam?" I heard Lisa's musical voice from upstairs.

"No it's your other boyfriend, now hurry up. You're making the boy late" Mr. Healey called back, they had a great relationship, he wasn't overly protective either which was a bonus. I looked up the stairs as I saw her. She looked like an angel, her perfect blonde hair was in curls, she was in a long red gown the hugged her curves in all of the right places. My chest tightened involuntarily, I had stopped breathing.

She blushed at me as she walked down the stairs; "You look….amazing" I said softly and took her hand in mine. She leaned down and kissed me tenderly, I never wanted it to stop.

"Not too shabby yourself" She smiled at me as our lips parted, she blushed again as her father cleared his throat. "Relax dad, we're leaving" She smiled at him.

"Home by one, okay?" I nodded.

"Yes sir, of course" With that we were off. I was excited to spend the night with Lisa, she looked absolutely amazing. We danced the night away; she was a great dancer, almost as light on her feet as Alice was. My cell phone buzzed with the alarm I set, the dance was continuing until two but we needed to go now. "Come on baby, it's time to go" I smiled at her.

She sighed and looked at me, "Fine, but I want to drive" I laughed when she said this; she loved driving my car almost as much as I did. I walked over to where Alice was dancing with Jasper.

"We're heading home, I'll see you guys later okay?" I smiled and gave them a wave.

****

Alice's Pov

It was a fantastic night and everyone was having a lot of fun. I could dance with Jasper for hours on end but the dance was ending soon. Adam had looked like he had a blast which was great, Lisa really brought out the best in him.

When the lights finally turned on we all climbed into Emmett's jeep and started home, it had started snowing while we were inside but it was still a beautiful night. The moon lit up the sky and the snow only made it brighter. I smiled out the window as Jasper took my hand, a felt a vision hit me. I closed my eyes at the sight but that did nothing to shield myself from the terrible images playing in my mind. A dry sob racked my body as I finally came out of the vision; I dug through my purse and dialed Adam.

Adam's Pov

My phone began to ring, I groaned as I heard Alice's ringtone. The snow was getting bad and I needed to pay attention to the road. "Yeah Alice?" I answered. She sounded hysterical. "Alice what's wrong?" I felt terrible for snapping at here a few seconds earlier. I couldn't tell what she was saying, even with my great hearing I couldn't make out the words she was saying.

"What's wrong?" Lisa turned to look at me. I shrugged as I tried to make out what Alice was saying. Time had begun to feel slower, my eyes were forced upwards as I saw two blinding headlights. Lisa attempted to slam the brakes on but there wasn't enough time. I moved my hands in front of her attempting to shield her. I couldn't believe I wasn't wearing a seat belt, of all of the nights I had pointlessly had it on when I was alone in the car, but now when I needed it, it was sitting behind me. Instantly the sound of grinding metal filled my ears and I heard a deafening scream.

I was suddenly thrown through the wind shield; I must have been thrown a good thirty feet. Pain racked my body but the world around me was silent. I groaned and tried to sit up; I had forgotten what pain felt like until right now. I sat upright and looked at myself, my tuxedo was completely shredded. I spent about a minute attempting to get my bearings together when the smell of gardenias filled my nose. I jumped up instantly and took off towards my car, it was destroyed. I looked between it and the equally damaged SUV that was smashed into it.

The metal was so mangled I couldn't tell where my car ended and this one began. I felt so strange, I couldn't hear anything; my mind must have been playing games on me. My eyes finally landed on Lisa, a sob escaped my lips and time seemed to slow even more. I just stood there and stared. I didn't want to see it but I couldn't look away.

The cold air sent a shiver down my spine; I felt my hair begin to become wet with the snow. I wasn't alone for long though, cars had stopped on both sides of the road. I could tell there were people shouting at me but my mind wasn't processing what they were saying. Things began to become clearer when I saw the flashing lights of a cop car, a state trooper to be exact; there were three squad cars pulling up. One of them climbed out his car and came straight over to me, I thought for a second he must have been a vampire like me because of how quickly he was moving. "Son?" his face was in front of mine suddenly.

"Son can you tell me your name?" he repeated this to me about three times before leading me over to the snow covered shoulder of the road, he pushed me into a sitting position on the slight hill. I wanted to move, I wanted to go back to where Lisa was but my legs wouldn't take me. I found my eyes wandering to the sky and the beautiful moon as my thoughts from earlier filled my head, this was my eternity now.

**A/N – don't hate me for this but I think I am done with this story, at least for now. I lost my passion for the story and I can't force myself to write, I have to feel it. If something motivates me I'll come back to it but I will keep writing, I'm going to be trying some other stuff throughout the weekend and if anything sticks I'll post it**


	31. Author's Note

A/N

Okay, I have decided that I can't kill this story; I was suffering from major writers block but that dissipated after a nice walk through the monuments. I will be updating again tonight actually. Sorry if I had any of you worried.


	32. Chapter 30

Jasper's Pov

We heard a brief crashing noise before his phone died; Alice was sobbing, Edward had to explain to us what she had seen. Rosalie drove us to the accident site, even with Rosalie driving like a lunatic it took us ten minutes to get there. The snow had really started to pick up; it was falling in blankets now. Alice jumped from the car the moment it stopped, she screamed Adam's name as she approached the police barricade. I could hear sirens off in the distance, it was an ambulance, and it would be here in a few minutes.

"Where is Adam? Where is my brother?" Alice grabbed the coat of a state trooper who was within her grasp.

"Adam? Is that his name? He won't say anything" he moved a little and pointed to the shoulder of the road. Adam was just blindly staring off into space. Alice pushed by him and ran at human speed to him. I felt numb; I knew it was from Adam, his feelings quickly overpowered the pain I had felt from every bystander.

"Adam?" Alice grabbed his shoulders and looked him over. His suit was clinging to him by just threads. "Adam talk to me" she pled with him as a sob racked her body. He didn't even look at her; the same empty expression never left his face.

"Alice stop, he's in shock" Rosalie's voice was quivering. She looked back at the wreck, her hands shaking. She knew what we all knew, Lisa was dead. I could hear individual heart beats but there was nothing coming from her. I turned getting a good look at the wreckage, the SUV had crossed completely into their lane and hit them head on; there was nothing they could have done to stop the accident.

My attention was pulled back to Adam as Esme and Carlisle ran up. Esme pulled Adam into her arms as she sat in the snow next to him. "Are you okay?" She asked him quickly but he just stared blankly. "Adam?" she asked again but there was still nothing. I didn't feel pain from him, not yet, he was just numb.

Carlisle walked over to the troopers; he introduced himself as Adam's father. I listened as he told the troopers he wanted to take Adam home; I knew he was concerned that once the ambulances arrived they would examine Adam. It was bad enough that he walked away from the accident unscathed but an examination would reveal his lack of a pulse. Carlisle showed the officer his hospital ID badge and explained that he would be taking Adam to the hospital himself. That was thankfully enough for the officer.

He returned to us the moment the trooper agreed, he squatted down in front of Adam and Esme. "Adam, we need to take you home okay?" his voice was very gentle but Adam didn't respond he just closed his eyes. "Adam?" his voice jumped in pitch and Adam's eyes opened again but his eyes were just as empty looking as they were before. He turned to Emmett and Edward who bent down and gently lifted Adam to his feet, the waited a moment to see if he was standing on his own.

Edward's Pov

Adam looked like an empty shell, physically he was fine but nothing seemed to be going on inside. His eyes which were normally a deep fiery blue appeared to be a dull grey. As we led him to Carlisle's car, I could hear the thoughts of the bystanders; many we're shocked to see him walking away from the wreck, other's felt tremendous sorrow as they looked at the young man still in his tuxedo from a magical evening, that tux was barely holding onto him; the fabric had been ripped to shreds by the wreckage and asphalt that had met him when he was ejected from the car.

Alice made no attempt to shield her thoughts from me like she usually did, she was feeling incredibly guilty, and I heard her going through the possible scenarios in which she could have prevented this. Once we had Adam sitting down in the car I moved quickly to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Alice there is nothing more you could have done, nothing" I gave her a gentle shake to emphasize my point. Her bottom lip trembled as she looked at me and then Adam. "You didn't have enough time to warn him" I said softly, ensuring no one that was watching could hear us. I pulled her into tight hug as I felt sobs rack her body.

Carlisle turned to Emmett "We're taking him home now, alright?" Emmett just nodded; he and Bella hadn't said a word since we got here. We walked back to the Jeep and slowly piled in; the gravity of the situation hadn't set in for most of us, everything had happened too quickly.

Rosalie's thoughts surprised me though, I knew she hadn't liked the idea of Lisa but now she was incredibly pained. Jasper was stuck in auto pilot still but that faded as Carlisle drove off towards the house with Adam, he took in sharp breaths and appeared to be in pain. "He…he's just numb" he stammered out. "I've never felt anything like that" his voice was barely even a whisper.

There wasn't another word spoken until we arrived at the house. Esme as sitting with him on the couch, his expression was still yet to change. "Adam is there anything I can get you?" she asked, I noticed her hands were shaking; she was so worried for him. There was still no recognition of any of us in his face. If he was a human I would have thought he was catatonic. Esme just took his hand in hers and held it tightly.

About an hour passed before Adam stood up, "Sweetheart where are you going?" Esme asked as she let go of his hand. He didn't respond he just walked up to his room very slowly and closed the door. I sighed as I heard the lock latch.

"What is wrong with him Carlisle?" Rosalie spoke up.

"He's in shock, he will get over it eventually, until then we need to just let him be" his voice was troubled; he hated seeing his son like this.

There was no sound what so ever from Adam's room for almost two days, finally on Sunday evening we heard him get up and walk into his bathroom and turn the shower on. He must have been in the shower for about fifteen minutes before Jasper gasped in pain and pulled his knees into his chest holding them there tightly. It was only a matter of seconds before we heard the most painful sobs any of us had ever heard.


	33. Chapter 31

Adam's Pov

They say that time heals all wounds but when all you have is time it doesn't really help. The pain faded though, but it still hasn't disappeared. Every day for years I felt terrible guilt, the accident played through my mind about a dozen times a day. As many times as my family told me there was nothing I could have done, I convinced myself that had I been wearing my seat belt I could have protected her.

I returned to school after the New Year but I only lasted about a week, there was too much to remind me of her. Esme and Carlisle suggested moving to Binghamton, NY for me to finish up high school. I felt bad for how my presence was affecting them; Jasper was struggling even being around me.

Everything had become routine, I didn't like talking to anyone anymore. Being around other humans was even worse. When I graduated I asked Mom and Dad about taking some time off. I took the money that Alice had put away for me and set off for a trip around the world.

The time away was nice; I saw everything this planet had to offer. Keeping busy was just the thing I needed, it was also great not seeing the same people every day and not seeing anyone at all most days; it was easier not having any attachment at all. At first I wanted to spend eternity like this but it wasn't until I was scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef that I realized how much I missed my family. I hadn't even called them in the four years I had been gone, I sent letters and the occasional photo but I knew it wasn't the same.

I swam back to the boat, thankful for the cloud coverage overhead, Australia was such a sunny place that it made doing just about anything difficult. I found a pay phone on the beach and dialed the hospital that Dad was working at in New York, I knew they had moved since then but it was the only thing I had to go on. It took me about eight different phone calls before I was finally given the number for a hospital in Portland. I stared at the paper for what felt like hours nervously scratching at my poorly maintained goatee before I finally dialed.

Carlisle's Pov

"Dr. Cullen? There is a call for you on line two, he wouldn't give his name but the caller ID shows he's calling from Australia" my receptionist looked up at me as I came out of my office.

"Australia?" I repeated; I didn't know anyone in Australia. "Did he say what the call was regarding?"

"No but he did call you Dr. Hamilton at first, I think it may be a wrong number, the reason he was transferred here was he asked for Carlisle" she explained. Dr. Hamilton, I haven't used that name in over four years, the pieces slowly put themselves together; it was Adam.

"Put the call through, I'll take it in my office" I said quickly and turned back to my office. I only had one family photo in my office; it was taken the night everything fell apart again. I smiled to myself as I looked at it, Adam was in his tux with his arm around Esme; the last genuine smile I saw him make was plastered on his face.

I felt nervous as I waited for the call to be transferred; when my phone finally rang I picked it up immediately. "Hello?"

"Dad?" I took in a deep unnecessary breath when I heard his voice, it was gruffer than the last time I had heard it.

"Adam is that you?" I asked just to make sure.

"Yeah, Dad it's me" he sounded happy to hear my voice; he actually sounded happy, it's been far too long since he sounded that way.

"How are you?" was all I could ask, I wanted to yell at him for leaving but I knew that wouldn't help anything. Part of me was so angry that he just picked up and left, I was furious that he hadn't called in years. I wasn't really angry at him though, he was hurting so badly, I've never seen that kind of pure agony before. It was torture for Jasper to be in the house but he tried to hide it, he wanted to be strong for Adam. Adam could see right through it though, he knew how he was affecting all of us. It was just a terrible situation.

"I'm good Dad, actually really good" I couldn't tell if he was being truthful, he was nowhere near good when he left, none of us where happy then.

"That's great son" I forced myself to smile even though he was on the other side of the world. "Australia huh? The letter we got six months ago said you were in China"

"Yeah, I've been down here for about three months, spent the morning scuba diving, it's gorgeous out here" his voice caught in his throat as he spoke.

"What's wrong Adam?" I couldn't place his tone to a specific emotion and that was driving me crazy.

"I just…I miss you…I want to come home" he sounded afraid of my response, as if he expected me to tell him he couldn't.

"We would love for you to come home Adam" I said quickly trying to make sure there was no question that I wanted him home.

"Really?"

"Of course we do Adam, we miss you more than you know" I tried not to guilt him; I knew he left because he thought it would be better for us.

"Great, I'll be flying in tomorrow then, you guys are in Portland right?" his tone changed instantly, he sounded incredibly happy.

"Yeah, we're in Portland now. You should really call your mother before you leave; it would mean a lot to her" I looked at the picture on my desk again; I felt an immense pain when I looked at that photo. Images played through my mind of the past few years. I'll never forget watching him at Lisa's funeral, he had spent the day running around downtown Pittsburgh looking for flowers. He was almost late for the funeral but he showed up with a dozen gardenias. I didn't understand it at first but when I smelled them it all made sense. Seeing the Healey's that day only made him feel worse, they lost everything when Lisa died. He was such a mess after the funeral; he only left his room for the next two weeks to hunt.

"Can I get a number for the house?" his voice brought me back to reality. I gave him the number and talked to him for a few more minutes before we said our goodbyes.

Esme's Pov

I spent the morning, like every morning for the past four years, in my garden; it was one of the few passions I had left. I wasn't even that passionate about it anymore, it just kept me busy and if I was busy I wasn't thinking about Adam. I knew he was fine physically; he would always be fine physically. I still hear his sobbing sometimes; his pain was pure agony for me. I couldn't make it better for him and that was the worst part.

"Mom! The phone is ringing!" Emmett's voice boomed from inside the house. I had recently banned him from answering the house phone after one afternoon in which he broke the phone to stop it from ringing, his bad moods were getting a little out of control. I knew why he was in such terrible moods; it was his way of dealing with his frustrations and sadness. He wouldn't admit it but he was still really upset that Adam was gone.

"Coming Emmett" I sighed as I got to my feet and slowly walked inside. "Hello?" I said flatly into the receiver. The sound of my own voice made me want to cringe, I once had a musical quality to my tone of voice but now it just sounded dull.

"Mom?" Adam's voice rung in my ears, he sounded older, rougher than he used to. Emmett's head shot up at inhuman speed and his eyes were as wide as saucers. "Hello?" his concerned voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Adam?" My voice was shaking; I took in a deep unneeded breath as I stared back at the floor.

"Yeah, Mom, it's me" I heard him inhale sharply like he was in pain. I looked again as my five other children rushed in.

"Oh sweetheart" a heavy sigh escaped my lips "How are you?" I asked immediately. He let out a soft chuckle, an honest laugh.

"I'm good Mom, I'm really good" he sounded happy. "I'm flying into Portland tomorrow night" I felt like I was dreaming, it seemed too good to be true.

"Really?" Alice cut in. Adam laughed again.

"Yeah, Alice, Qantas flight 340, I land at 8:05" I felt my lip tighten, if I could cry there would be tears running down my cheeks by now; he was coming home.


	34. Chapter 32

Adam's Pov

After speaking to my mother and siblings for about ten minutes I headed into town and the small studio apartment/basement I had rented. I smiled as I packed up the few things I wanted to take home with me. I tied up a few loose ends and sold the boat I had purchased before heading to the airport. I checked in for my flight, refusing to check my bags; I only had two of them, both were large camping back packs.

I headed into the first class lounge and plopped down. I normally hated the idea of wasting money on first class but being cramped in coach with 200 or so humans was not how I wanted to spend thirty hours. I waited uncomfortably for my flight to be called. I was one of the first on board and I nestled into my 'pod'; the seat was surprisingly comfortable. I hadn't watched a television show or a movie in years but it was really the only option as I didn't bring any books with me.

"Sir is there anything I can get you?" I looked up at the flight attendant standing above me. She was smiling at me broadly; I didn't need to read her mind to know what she was thinking. My appearance has changed a lot over the years; I had stopped shaving and had grown out my sideburns. I was in a beat up shirt made out of hemp that said "WAR – what is it good for" written across it. I was in white linen pants and a pair of Birkenstocks that I've been wearing for about 2 years straight. I smiled back at her and told her I was just fine, she asked me that same question about every hour for the entire flight.

Alice's Pov

We all piled into two cars and headed off for the airport. We didn't need to prepare a lot for Adam, each time we moved we had set up his room the exact way he had left it. Everyone was so excited to see him again, he really had sounded happy on the phone. We got to the terminal at 8, just five minutes before his flight was landing. After about ten minutes Emmett had begun pacing around the customs gate.

"Alice!" I heard his voice and turned around quickly. He looked so different but he looked really good. His hair was up in tiny dreadlocks; they were about six inches long and pulled up into what looked like a rubber band. He looked like a hippie but it worked for him. He was in a green t-shirt and white cloth pants; he even appeared to have a tan which I didn't think was possible. He ran up to me and pulled me into a hug lifting me off the floor as he hugged me.

"Adam!" I squealed happily. He gently sat me down after a moment. "You look great!" I smiled at him.

"So do you" he smiled as Esme turned him around to face her. She held him tightly in a hug; a happy sob was stifled by his shirt.

"Let me get a look at you" She finally pulled back and looked at him long and hard. His eyes were a remarkable blue green. He looked older with his scruffy facial hair. He spent another ten minutes being hugged and greeted by everyone. "Ready to go home?" Esme asked after everyone had their turn.

"Absolutely" he smiled. We were soon back at the house; we went straight to living room and Adam sat his bags down. "I have…stuff…for everyone" he smiled and grabbed one of the bags.

Adam was digging through his bag and pulled out a smaller bag and handed it to Emmett. He opened it up; it looked like a handmade set of lacrosse sticks. There were ten of them and a set of rawhide balls. "They're from Mexico" he handed him a book about the game. "It's like a cross between lacrosse and basketball but much more violent" Adam grinned. He knew Emmett well.

Jasper's Pov

"Sweet, thanks man" he smiled back as he looked over the set. He handed Alice a box next, the box looked like it had been between half to death; it was barely staying together. Alice looked at it suspiciously before opening it. Inside was a pair of leather high heeled boots. She squealed with excitement as she looked at them.

"Where did you find these?" She turned back to him. I tried to contain myself; she was just so excited about them.

"Uh…some store in Milan?" he didn't seem to remember. "They look like your style" he offered as he shrugged.

"Adam!" she jumped up and hugged him again, she began to ramble on about the fact that they were Prada and only fifty or so were made in each size, something that Adam clearly had no idea of. He continued handing out the things he had gotten for each of us during his trip. He had gotten Rosalie a set of jewelry made out of Venetian glass. For me he had found an ancient binding of Plato's the Republic in its original Latin, it was awesome. He had gotten Edward some Austrian piano wires; he brought Bella an entire set of Louisa May Alcott books all of them were first editions, for Esme he brought back seeds of exotic flowers from all over the world and for Carlisle he brought back a stethoscope that was hand painted with Chinese symbols.

The gifts he brought back were great but it was even better knowing that he was thinking about us while he was gone. He felt so happy; it was rolling off in him waves. "What does this mean?" Alice asked as she looked at a photo of two panda bears under the image there was something handwritten in Chinese. She had begun digging through his other bag; she had a large box of pictures in her lap. It looked like Adam had documented his entire trip.

"Alice!" Esme scolded her as she realized what she was doing.

"It's fine" Adam just smiled, "It means…" he turned his head and read what was scribbled on the picture. "It means, mother and child." He smiled as he looked at the picture.

"Did you take these?" Rosalie asked as she began to thumb through the rest of the photos.

"Yeah, I developed them myself" he smiled as Rosalie, her face scrunched up in thought. "Most universities have dark rooms, no one ever even asked me for an id." He explained with a soft laugh. He had well over a thousand photos among two boxes as well as a dozen or so binders of negatives.

"How close where you to these?" Emmett asked as he looked over the black and white image.

"About fifteen feet maybe" Adam said with a soft smile.

"Did you eat one of them?" Emmett asked intrigued, I smiled to myself as I felt his jealousy.

"What? No, Emmett you can't eat Panda's" He laughed.

"Why not?"

"They're an endangered species Emmett" Everyone laughed at Emmett's frown. We looked through his photos for hours as he told us the stories behind the images. We saw the dates he had written on the backs, his photos all took a different about two years into his trip, the first half all had dark ominous tones but towards the end of his trip the pictures all looked a lot brighter.

Adam's Pov

I looked over the pictures with everyone, I smiled to myself at the one Rosalie had in her hands. It was of me getting my hair dreaded for the first time. I had spent nearly a year with Sabra and her brother, it was fitting that her name meant patience, she taught me Swahili during our time together. I credit her for my happiness; she brought me out of my terrible funk. She was the only person I spent any real time with over the past few years.

My camera had become my prized possession; it was the one thing I had spent significant money on. Photography had become a much needed form of expression for me, I really loved being in the darkroom.

****

It didn't take me long at all to get used to being back home, I hadn't realized how much I missed being around everyone, I loved having a family. I was starting back at school today with the rest of my family, I was a little surprised that they weren't already enrolled but I suppose it was because they had just moved into the house a month ago.

Esme and Alice worked on providing me new documentation; I was Adam Carlisle Cullen again. Alice, Bella, Jasper, Edward and I were starting off as sophomores; Emmett and Rosalie were starting as juniors. I was actually looking forward to going back to school; I wasn't looking forward to the stench of body odor or the hormonal teenagers but having a relatively normal routine again was going to be nice.

Alice had taken me shopping for a few essentials; I had a new backpack and a much needed pair of Birkenstocks. I knew she had used just about every ounce of self-control she had when she allowed me to choose my own clothing during our trip.

"Ready?" Rosalie smiled at me as she came outside. "You look good" I smiled back; I had shaved my goatee as an attempt to ensure I still looked sixteen, I did get to keep my hair dreaded though, Alice said it 'fits me'. I was in a pair of jeans the vintage Pink Floyd shirt that Emmett had given to me for graduation.

"You don't look too shabby yourself, I really like your hair shorter" I commented being honest, she had cut just a few inches off of where it normally was, it still went down to the middle of her back.

"Well thank you" she smirked and reached up patting my dreads, they were pulled up with some hair tie Alice had given me, it was a lot easier on my hair than the rubber bands I had been using. It wasn't long before everyone made their way out. We soon pulled into the school parking lot, people immediately began staring. The school wasn't that big and it was a month into the semester so I guess we were big news. We also had our looks to blame for the stares. I walked in with Alice as headed into the office.

"Hello?" Alice's voice chimed as she looked at the receptionist who was staring openmouthed at us. Edward stifled a laugh as she just gaped; the poor guy is probably listening to her lustful thoughts. Rosalie finally gave an annoyed sigh before clearing her throat.

"Oh, hi. You're the Cullen's right?" She asked blushing. Alice just nodded. We waited patiently as she got us our schedules. I had all but my Civics class with one of my siblings and we all had lunch together again. I headed to my first period Calculus class with Emmett, half way through he turned his head and saw I was actually taking notes.

"What are you doing?" he said so quickly and lowly I was the only one who could hear him.

"Taking notes?" I shrugged.

"A little rusty from all the time away?" he teased, knowing full well I had aced this class with ease the first thing.

"Unless you're an engineer you don't need this crap" I smirked. "Four years away and I never needed to know how to do an integral, not once." He laughed as I started to take more notes. When the bell rang I headed off to my Civics class. I took my seat upfront and pulled my notebook out. The class began the moment the bell rang and the teacher launched us into an immediate debate about the education system.

I listened to the arguments that had started, I stayed quiet until I heard someone going on about how she believed the current system wasn't that bad and that if parents want a better education for their kids they should pay for it. I had heard enough, I didn't turn around to face her but I interjected, I stayed respectful as I made her sound like an idiot. She had started to retort but the bell started to ring. I smiled to myself, pleased I had gotten the last word. I stood up quickly and went to my next class.

The rest of the morning was uneventful; I was ready for lunch. The students were allowed to eat outside for lunch when it wasn't raining. It was a nice day even with all of the cloud coverage. Alice had her arm on my shoulder as we walked to the back of the lunch line. "I hate wasting this food" I grumbled as we put a few items on our trays.

"Oh hush nature boy" she teased, this had become my new nickname with her and Emmett.

"Can we eat outside? There's zero sun getting though" I asked as we paid. She agreed and we headed outside, we sat on the bleachers next to the practice field. We talked with each other as everyone joined us. Emmett smirked at me as he pulled a Frisbee out of his bag.

"Nature boy, go long" I laughed and nodded before hopping up. I ran out into the practice field where some of the cheerleaders were flipping through the air. I turned back to face him as I waited for him to hurl the disc. "Further!" his voice boomed as he stood up, I laughed as I heard Rosalie reminding him not to throw it as hard as he could. I took a few steps backwards and held my hands up signaling him to throw it.

The moment he tossed it I felt a sharp pain in my face as some cheerleader flipped into me, her feet catching me in the face. Damn, I've never been kicked so hard before. I stumbled for a moment holding my mouth. "Oh no" I heard a soft voice and felt a set of hands on my shoulders.

"Your Nike's taste awful" I mumbled as I started to stand upright. I heard a gentle laugh.

"Are you okay?" the voice asked me, I recognized the voice as the girl who I had argued with in class. I finally stood up and looked at her for the first time. "Are you okay hippie?" she asked with a soft smile, poking fun at me.

"I'll be fine, fascist" I said with light hearted chuckle. I looked her from the bottom up, stopping as I looked into her liquid gold eyes.


	35. Chapter 33

Rosalie's Pov

"Oh shit" Emmett jumped to his feet as Adam got absolutely pummeled by some tall brunette cheerleader who flipped right into him, her shoes hitting him square in the mouth. He was hit so hard that his head whipped back; if he was a human it would have given him whiplash. Emmett's laugh boomed as the Frisbee he had thrown hit him in the head while he was still reeling from the first blow; he looked so rattled I don't even think he realized it hit him.

"Emmett!" I slapped his arm so he would stop laughing before hurrying over to see if Adam was alright. Adam was staring at the face of the cheerleader who had assaulted him. He had a strange look on his face; I didn't understand his expression until I was face to face with her. She was a vampire; there was no question about it. I look at her for a moment before turning to Adam who was attempting to pull his dreads back up. The band that was holding them up had shifted quite a bit and now several of them were loose and sticking out in every imaginable direction. "Are you alright?" I asked looking him over.

"I'm fine Rose I promise" he grumbled and rolled his eyes. His gaze never left the tall beautiful vampire standing in front of him.

"Adam and Eva" Edward laughed to himself; his voice was so hushed I barely heard him.

Adam glared at Edward for the uncomfortable greeting he had just initiated; the girl whom I assumed was Eva simply chuckled. "Right well let's go" Adam said quickly to us before he started back to the bleachers.

Adam's Pov

The rest of the day went without further incident thankfully. I have to admit, I was a little caught off guard when I saw the other vampire; I had always thought we were the only 'vegetarian' vampires with the exception of Tanya and her coven. This Eva intrigued me greatly.

The next morning I was ready for school early again; I waited patiently in the backseat of Rosalie's car for nearly half an hour before the rest of my family joined me. "Hey nature boy, trying to become one with the Benz" Emmett teased as he climbed in.

"No but my foot is about to become one with your ass" I threatened him jovially. Everyone laughed as Emmett shot me a playful glare. We headed to school without much more chatter, I sat with Emmett in Calculus taking notes like usual but my mind was elsewhere. When the bell rang I gave Emmett a pat on the shoulder and bolted off to my Civics class. When I got there the class was empty with the exception of the teacher, I took my seat near the back this time.

I had zoned out a bit when I heard a huff, I looked up and saw Eva who, of course, took the seat next me. She gave me a satisfied smile and waited for the teacher to start the class. He gave everyone a smug smile and started talking to us about the current poverty system in the U.S. I smiled to myself as the debate started up. It wasn't long until Eva and I began debating amongst ourselves, we didn't really allow anyone else to get a word in. She infuriated me, she was clearly educated but she was just plain wrong. I felt an uncontrollable desire to prove her wrong; I needed to change her mind.

Emmett's Pov

I waited with my family on the bleachers where we had "lunch" yesterday but Adam hadn't shown up yet. I was beginning to get concerned before I heard him in a loud argument with that Eva girl who kicked him in the face. They were all but shouting at each other as they took a seat at one of the picnic tables in the grass. I watched for a few minutes before standing up but Alice grabbed my arm. "Let them be" she smiled. She must have seen something in one of her visions.

"Why?"

"I'm not telling" she smirked, I immediately turned to Edward to see if he would tell me.

"Nope, not a chance" he laughed. I let out a low growl as I sat back down. I tried not to laugh as I heard the sound of plastic snapping, Adam had just snapped his lunch tray in half; he hadn't done it on purpose though. Rosalie laughed as she watched as well; Adam stood up and called Eva 'a fascistic moron' before storming off.

****

Adam and Eva we're sort of driving me crazy, every day they debated in their Civics class and days in which things had gotten heated they continued their debates during lunch. They had the weirdest relationship I had ever seen, all they ever did was argue. Alice still hadn't told us what she had seen in her vision and Edward wasn't spilling either.

I couldn't understand what they saw in each other, they had nothing in common except for the fact that they were both vampires. To be completely honest I was a little jealous of this Eva girl, she was stealing Adam from us during lunch and I wasn't okay with that. I knew I shouldn't complain; it was great having Adam back. He had gotten into a normal routine again and he was doing much better with the idea of not being on his own anymore. During his first two weeks back his room had been a disaster area, it drove Esme crazy. She knew he didn't like the idea of her cleaning up after him so she had just let it go. Once he realized how much it bothered her he started to get better. His room was still a cluttered mess but it was a lot better than it had been before. I shuddered to think at how messy he must have been when he was away.

**A/N – Alilkittenkat – Eva is definitely not going to be another Lisa**


	36. Chapter 34

Adam's Pov

"This has to be some sort of mistake" I whined looking up to my teacher. Carlisle and Esme we're leaving for some sort of conference and this is not how I want to spent this weekend.

"The group assignments are final Mr. Cullen" I started to speak again but I was stopped by his raised hand. "Final, Mr. Cullen" I groaned and put my head down on the table.

"Quit your bitching Cullen" Eva's voice chimed in my ear, we had been assigned to work together on a paper that was due Monday and since it's Friday that means we're going to have to do it this weekend. I lifted my head and shot her a glare. I took in a breath and sighed, she just smirked at me. "You're place or mine?"

I sighed again, if we went to her place there would be no escape, if we were at mine at least my family will be there. "Mine. Why don't we just finish it up after school?" I offered softly and she agreed, the moment the bell rung I took off out the door. I headed to the art room for the Art 1 class I had with Alice.

"So, we're having company tonight?" she smirked at me.

"Emmett's going to be pissed isn't he?" I sighed as I sat down next to her; Emmett was really looking forward to our weekend without the parents. He had started listing off the stuff we'd be able to do while we were home alone.

"Don't worry about Emmett" She smiled again sweetly, I knew she had seen something but I didn't have a desire to plead for her to tell me. When the final bell rang Eva was already waiting at my locker.

"Ready to go study buddy?" She smiled at me sardonically.

"Quiet you" I narrowed my eyes as I opened my locker. I quickly changed out my books and headed out to the parking lot. I told Eva to follow us to our house before climbing into Rosalie's car.

"Jeez man, angry much?" Jasper asked with a grin.

"Shut up" I shot him a look as Alice laughed. We were soon at the house; Eva pulled into the driveway, she had a beat up station wagon that sort of made me chuckle. "Come on let's go" I was really not looking forward to having her in my home. This girl really drove me crazy, she argued with me about anything and everything. If I said the sky was blue, she'd tell me I was wrong. I don't understand her at all it was like she knows exactly what to say to make me angry.

Jasper's Pov

Emmett was in a terrible mood, he was huffing around the house pouting because Eva was preventing him from spending time with Adam. They were in his room 'working' but I couldn't imagine they were getting much done because all I could hear was shouting. I got the strangest feelings from them, Adam was frustrated but Eva just felt passionate; Adam was feeling passion as well though, he really wanted to get her to agree with him. I heard a crash from his room and Alice danced into the room. "It's starting Edward!" She called out to him. I tried not to laugh as I remembered the vision she had when they first met.

"What the hell was that for?!" Adam shouted.

"That was for calling me a bitch" Eva's voice sounded calm but she was feeling very nervous.

"I did not!"

"You thought it" Alice gave a squeal when she heard this.

"You….you can hear my thoughts?" Adam stammered out.

"Took you long enough to figure it out wonder boy"

"How on earth could I have figured that out?" Adam's voice rose again.

"You really think I could possibly disagree with everything you think?" Eva asked; her voice was much gentler this time.

Adam's Pov

I looked at Eva for a moment "So all of this was just some cat and mouse game?" I couldn't believe it; she had been reading my thoughts and had been saying the exact opposite of the things I was thinking. I had been blocking Edward out of my mind out of habit and Dad had told me that he thought my powers were limited to being only used on one person at a time, something we figured out when I couldn't keep Emmett frozen whenever I tried to freeze Jasper. She just smiled at me. "Why?" I asked a bit sharper this time.

"Because you wouldn't have started to talk at all" I knew she was talking about our first day of class, her comment had been the driving force that got me involved.

"Why would you care?" She stood up from where she was sitting on my floor, she walked up to me.

"Because you have a lot to say Adam, you need to understand that" her voice was oddly soft.

"You've been arguing with me for nearly a month now" She nodded, "just to get me to talk?" She just smiled at me. I didn't know how to respond, I was sort of furious. "So everything you've said to me has been a lie?" I asked unable to mask the anger in my voice.

"No"

"Then tell me something true about yourself, right now"

She smiled at me "I've spent about ten years working with Teach for America" I was a little taken back by this, Teach for America was an organization that can repay student loans in exchange for teaching two years at urban public schools. This sparked the first real conversation we've ever had.


	37. Chapter 35

Adam's Pov

I was sprawled out on the floor of my bedroom with Eva; she was speaking to me about the time she had spent in South America. Her hair was up in a messy bun, during school it had always been either straightened or up in a tight pony tail. I didn't know what to think, I wanted to be angry with her for reading my thoughts so she could argue with me but she was actually pretty remarkable.

She had been turned during the sixties and had spent nearly ten years in total solitude until she had her blood lust under control. Even though she was really just seventeen she could pass for up to 25 which allowed her to go college a few times, each time she earned a new degree she would spend two to three years teaching at an urban school through Teach for America.

"So why spend all of this time arguing with me?" I asked as I ran my fingers through my hair, I had decided to let the dreads loose.

She looked at me for a moment, her eyes narrowed in thought. "You needed a bit of a push to get you out of your shell" she explained.

"My shell?" my eyebrows raised; I knew what she was referring to though.

"Yes, your shell" she just smiled at me. I noticed her eyes were darkening; it was a look I knew well.

"Hungry?" I sat upright.

"Yeah, do you mind if we hunt?" She asked as she sat up as well.

"Yes, of course, come on" I got up and offered her my hand for assistance but she slapped it away.

"I am perfectly capable of getting up on my own" she said sharply before getting up, I just sighed and rolled my eyes. We were soon running through the woods towards my favorite hunting grounds. "Come on slow poke this isn't really as fast as you go is it?" She turned her head challenging me to a race.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into" I laughed and took off.

"Cheater!" She shouted at me and started running, she was soon at my heels. I tried to distance myself from her but I couldn't she was much faster than Edward even. I attempted to lengthen my stride and my foot smacked her in the shin, the two of us getting our legs tangled. We tumbled together for a good fifteen feet, taking out more than one ancient evergreen in the process. Once we finally came to a stop I heard Eva's beautiful laugh. I look up and saw one of the tree's we had decimated falling towards us. I instinctively straddled Eva and braced my arms as the tree crashed into my back.

I pushed the broken tree off of us and gave a sigh. "See what you made me do?!" I couldn't fight the smile that was forming on my lips.

"Made you do? I do recall you getting tangled up in my legs mister" she smiled back at me. We shared a meaningful look before I realized I was still straddling her. I hopped up to my feet instantly.

"Come on, I'm hungry now too" I offered her my hand, this time she took it. We were somewhere in upstate Washington before we began to hunt. I got my hands on a grizzly and a few deer while Eva focused on three mountain lions. I finished before she did and lay down in the grass looking upwards at the purpling sky. I smiled to myself as I heard Eva approaching. Much to my surprise she laid down as well, putting her head next to mine but her legs pointing in the opposite direction than mine.

"So, I told you all about myself today, what about you?" she asked softly.

"You can read my mind, don't you already know?"

"No, you don't think about your past and frankly that's a bit annoying" I laughed when she said this.

"Okay, what do you want to know?"

"How old are you really?"

I thought about it for a moment "22 I guess"

"Wow still just a baby" she noticed my frown and let out a laugh, I continued answering her questions about my past and my family. I was surprised at how easy she was to talk to. The sky had long since gone dark but we stayed in the grass looking up at the stars. "Are you glad you're a vampire?" she asked, there was a nervous quality to her voice.

"Wow, no one's ever asked me that before, that's a tough one. I'm glad that I get to be with my family but I don't know, sometimes I miss having an expiration date. Humans spend their lives knowing that everything will end one day. That's what drives people to do the things they want; they fulfill their goals because they know it's only a matter of time before you are just a footnote. I want that. I want to be able to get sick, I want to have to look both ways before I cross the street."

"You don't like immortality?" She turned to face me.

"If I have forever to accomplish something it loses all of its urgency. I miss urgency." I turned to face her as well. "Forever is such a terrifying concept to me" my voice caught in my throat as I spoke.

"It doesn't have to be" my eyes widened as she leaned closer to me and gently kissed my lips.

**A/N - Hey guys hopefully I'll have a new chapter by tomorrow, if not then you may have to wait until the new year as I am going to be without the web for a few days.**


	38. Chapter 36

Adam's Pov

I knew a million things should have been running through my mind while Eva kissed me but there was nothing, my mind went blank. I just kissed her back; she tasted fantastic, like apples. It wasn't overwhelmingly sweet but it was completely satisfying. I'm not exactly a professional at this and it was kind of awkward since I was upside down. I began to shift my position trying not to break the kiss; she must be reading my thoughts because she met me halfway. I felt a sudden rush of nervousness wash over me. It felt like I was being hit by a wave of ice cold water. I don't think I can do this.

"What's wrong?" Eva asked as I felt her lips pull away from mine. Idiot. Why can't you just man up? I heard her musical chuckle. "Come on, what's wrong?" her voice was gentle.

I wanted to tell her nothing but she could see through my lie. I took in a deep breath. "I haven't done this in a while" I was a little surprised with how honest I was.

She looked at me for a moment; it felt like a lifetime before leaning close again and gently kissing me. "You're doing fine" she said breathlessly between light kisses. I felt my hands moving automatically to brace her cheeks, it wasn't long before I nails running gently through my hair. "You need to trim your dreads" she said very matter-of-factly.

"Is that so?" I asked with a smile, her nose gently brushing mine as I looked into her eyes. She nodded as she smiled back at me. "Why me?" I finally blurted out. Why would she spend so much time just arguing points she didn't agree with just so she could get me to talk to her? It didn't make any sense to me at all. I'm not exactly anything special.

"That's not true" there was a sharpness to her tone as she responded to my unspoken self-loathing. "You are incredibly special Adam, you need to understand that. What happened to make you feel this way?" Her eyes were full of intense concern. It wasn't until then that I realized I hadn't talked about Lisa during our slow game of twenty questions. It had become so easy to not even think about Lisa anymore at all let alone talk about her. I just buried her deep inside of myself. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" Eva made sure I understood this.

"No" I took in a deep breath. "It is okay" I took in another breath, "She was my first real girlfriend, my first love, you could say"

"What happened?" Eva asked gently, her hand touching my chin.

"I killed her" I said sharply.

"That's not true" she shook her head.

"How do you know?"

"You couldn't do that, even if you wanted to"

"Well I did" I tried to stop myself from thinking about the accident again.

"What happened, really?" She asked again. I took in a deep breath; I felt my lip involuntarily flutter as the memories from that night flooded my consciousness.

"It was our winter formal, I was taking her home, well she was driving" I was unable to mask the pain in my voice as the images flashed in my mind fresh as ever, it was like it had happened yesterday. "It was snowing badly, I shouldn't have let her drive but I couldn't say no to her" I shook my head, ashamed of my stupidity. "A car hit us head on and she was killed" My voice was barely audible now; had Eva been human she wouldn't have heard me.

"It wasn't your fault Adam" She cupped my face with two hands now. I really wish people would stop saying this to me, it was my fault. Her father trusted me with her that night and he will never see her again because of me. He will never get to worry about her while she's away at college; he will never get to disapprove of the boys she would have brought home after me. Her mother will never have the chance to have grandchildren and all of that was on me. I took their baby girl away from them. "Adam, accidents happen!" Eva's voice rose slightly.

I shook my head and closed my eyes, trying to hide my feelings from her. "I was careless" my voice quivered as I whispered.

Eva stayed silent for a few moments before I felt her hands move from my cheeks to my forehead. "You're a lot warmer than I am" she stated softly. I opened my eyes and looked at her quizzically. "If I didn't know any better you could pass for a human with poor circulation." She added.

I tried not to laugh at the randomness of her observation, "Just another thing in the long list of things that are wrong with me"

"Stop it, I won't listen to you degrade yourself like this" her eyes narrowed as she scolded me. "You have more heart than any human I have ever met let alone vampire, you need to see how special you really are" I felt her poke her finger into my chest as she emphasized heart. I expected the poking to make me feel worse, not a lot of people poked me but it felt bizarrely right.

I lifted my eyes to meet her gaze, a soft smile forming on my lips. "I don't deserve you"

"Like hell you don't" She leaned over and kissed me fiercely.

Alice's Pov

Emmett was sitting on the couch looking cross; I've never seen him pout this badly before. "Can you please take another look, are they going to be back anytime soon?" he turned to me.

"No, you know what I saw last time and I don't want to see that again" I narrowed my eyes at him. The last time I had taken a look at Eva's future I had seen her and Adam getting pretty hot and heavy in some field. God only knows how much further they had gone by now and I didn't was to see my baby brother engaged in that. I began to feel an out of place joyful feeling, I turned immediately to Jasper. "Cut that out!" He just laughed.

"Oh come on, it's about time he got back on the horse" he took my hand in his giving it a gentle squeeze.

"You didn't have to see it" I shook my head at him, Emmett and I seemed to be the only ones not pleased with my latest vision. Rosalie was very pleased which seemed a little strange to me considering how she reacted to Lisa in the beginning but I guess her problem with Lisa lay more in the fact that she was a human because Rose was utterly tickled by the idea of Adam being involved with Eva.

I wasn't displeased with it but I didn't want him to end up getting hurt. Adam was different than the rest of his, he was more human. I've never seen a vampire with that level of humanity before, when Jasper had offered to show him how to shoot his guns Adam refused fervently, he told us that gun's ruin lives and the only purpose of a gun was to kill. He had told me about his time he spent in Africa and how he started keeping the carcasses of the animals he would hunt so other people could benefit from the meat; I think it was his way of making penance for the animals he was killing. He was really the most gentle, caring creature I had ever seen in my entire existence.

"Just a quick peek please?" Emmett pled with me.

"Fine but you owe me" I sighed as I began to focus, taking a look at Eva's future. Everything had gone black.

Adam's Pov

I broke my embrace with Eva as I scent I didn't recognize filled my mind, it was another vampire. I stood up and Eva followed quickly. "Anyone you know?" I asked softly and she shook her head. It was only a matter of moments before we saw him, his jet black hair sticking up wildly. Another scent overpowered his as he got closer. He smelled like human blood, his bright red eyes matched my assumption. He flashed a wicked grin at the two of us as he sprinted by.

"Come on lets go" I put my arm around Eva's shoulder suddenly feeling very protective of her. She nodded and turned with me as we began to walk slowly towards the trees. Another odor filled burned my nostrils, it was a smell I hadn't come across before, and if I had to compare it to something it resembled the aroma of a wet dog. It was a terrible smell.

I heard four or five sets of feet walking through the surrounding forest, I watched curiously as I saw five young men walk out of the woods and into the field. The largest of the boys sniffed the air, a harsh snarl escaping his lips. "Come on Adam!" Eva pulled on my arm roughly but I ignored her and watched with a mixture of uneasiness and curiosity as the largest boy took a step forward before lunging. The clothing on his back exploded as hair covered his body; he was a giant wolf before his feet hit the ground again.

**A/N – I know terrible place to stop right, well I'll be frank, it's for my personal enjoyment. Sorry for the delay, I was off enjoying the holidays in a place with absolutely no internet access which I didn't think was possible this day and age. I hope to be updating again sometime tonight, we'll see how the Orange Bowl works out, Go Hokies! If it's bad I may just drink and go to bed so root for a victory. **


	39. Chapter 37

Edward's Pov

_That doesn't make any sense at all. Something is wrong. _I turned towards Alice hearing her erratic thoughts. "What did you see?" Emmett looked worried.

"Nothing, I saw nothing, its blank" Alice choked out.

"She's?" Rosalie swallowed the lump in her throat. _Not again, she has to be okay, Adam can't handle this again._

"Not necessarily" I said softly. _What else would it be?_ Even the voice in Alice's head was trembling. "Remember the last time your visions went blank?" I reminded her.

Emmett stood up quickly, "Where were they? We need to go help them, he doesn't know how to fight" He said quickly. He was right, Adam didn't know how to fight a werewolf at all, the only time I had seen him fight was a minor scuffle he had his first time through high school.

"Let's go" Jasper got up and nodded. Alice told us where she had seen them earlier, it sounded like his favorite hunting grounds in Washington. I cringed hoping they hadn't wandered too far west into Quileute territory; he had never gone there before so we never warned him about the treaty. We were all soon on our way there. Rosalie having called Esme and Carlisle to explain what we think may be going on; they were already on their way back from their conference.

Adam's Pov

By the way Eva was reacting I knew I should be frightened of the giant wolves, which were just boys a moment ago and were now running towards us. I moved to stand in front of Eva wanting to protect her if they were in fact dangerous. I had dealt with wolves before and many animals much bigger than this before, the only thing that ever came close to injuring me was a great white shark I had been hunting in the Mediterranean Sea, it had gotten it's teeth into me leaving very faint scars on my chest but that was it. These weren't wild animals though; they had been children just moments ago.

"Come on!" Eva pulled on my arm again, her voice was urgent. The wolves ran towards us at an incredibly fast pace; I took a step back and dropped into a crouch.

"What is their problem?" I said quickly.

"They think we're with old red eyes back there" Eva dropped into a crouch as well. The alpha of the pack of wolves leaped towards me, jaw open and snapping for flesh. I grabbed it defensively trying not to hurt it as I pushed it away but he just turned and leaped again.

"Stop!" I shouted my plea as he attempted to bite my arm. I pushed him again and flinched as he hit the ground with a thud. "Please stop, I don't want to hurt you!" I shouted at him; no sooner than I got the words out of my mouth two of his pack members jumped me from behind. I growled angrily as one dug his teeth into my wrist, I tossed his companion off with ease and reached with my free hand pulling him off with as little force as possible. I heard Eva let out a scream; I turned seeing one of the wolves had his teeth near her throat while she attempted to hold off the other wolf.

I focused my attention stopping the one in her hands from moving as I pulled off the one snapping wildly at her. I pinned him to the ground fighting every urge to kill him, I attempted to apply slight pressure to his neck like a doggy sleeper hold but when one of his pack members jumped on my back snarling my arm was pushed down hard crushing the wolf's wind pipe. I looked down at the wolf, my eyes wide. I'm a monster; I just murdered someone's child. The world around me seemed to fade as I felt another rough set of teeth sink in.

**A/N – Short, I know. Sorry. Tech won last night so I celebrated a little harder than I should have, spent a lot of time in bed today not writing like I had wanted to.**


	40. Chapter 38

Adam's Pov

I felt myself scream in pain but I couldn't hear myself over the snarls of the wolves. What was taking them so long to kill me; it was like they weren't even trying. My ears filled with a strange sound that resembled metal being torn apart, my knee suddenly felt like it was on fire. I heard Eva scream and it snapped me out of my trance.

"Leave her be" my voice came out in a low growl, I grabbed a hold of a handful of hair and pulled throwing one of the wolves off of me as it yelped, I saw its leg snap as it hit the ground. It whined in pain, unable to pounce again with its broken leg. I didn't want to hurt these beasts but I couldn't let them hurt Eva. Someone needed to teach these boys some manners.

I reached for the wolf closest to me; I grabbed the scruff of his neck and pulled. He tumbled about 30 feet into a tree; I winced as I heard bone snapping. I watched Eva sink her teeth into the wolf under her. She made a face of disgust and got up as the wolf writhed in pain, its blood pouring out into the grass. I leaned my head back into the dirt grimacing as I felt strangely light headed.

Alice's Pov

I climbed into my Porsche with Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie while Bella and Edward went in the Volvo. The engine purred as Rosalie refused to let it go under 170, thankfully it was late and the roads were empty. "Can you see anything yet?" Jasper asked as I felt him attempting to keep me calm.

I shook my head, "It's still nothing, a vast emptiness" I bit my lip and sighed trying again to look into Eva and Adam's futures. Edward had taken on the responsibility of calling Esme and Carlisle; they must be more panicked than we were being down in LA. I groaned in frustration as Jasper put his arm around my shoulders. Emmett turned on the radio in an attempt to distract us which failed.

Another twenty minutes passed before Rosalie's phone rang out loudly; a Bob Dylan song began to fill the air, it was Adam's ringtone. She grabbed it instantly and flipped in open, "Adam?" her voice was pleading, she was terrified for our baby brother. My panic tripled when I heard Eva's voice on the other end.

"There…there were these boy-wolf things" she stammered out, the fear evident in her voice. "He's hurt" she explained softly.

**A/N – I'm a tease, I know, don't worry though I will update soon I promise.**


	41. Chapter 39

Alice's Pov

I felt my stomach drop as Eva's words resonated in my mind. Adam was hurt by those dirty mutts. Jasper squeezed my hand gently as I tensed up thinking about the shape Adam could have been in. Emmett was fuming, we all were; these wolves had attacked Adam and Eva without provocation. Eva told us she would get Adam to a dirt road on the side of the freeway; she called us back after five minutes with their exact location. I watched as the digital clock ticked away the minutes, I felt like I was going crazy with anxiety. Thirty seven minutes ticked by before Rosalie started to decrease her speed and pulled off the road.

"Alice! Jasper!" Eva's voice rang out; she waved her hand frantically as she saw us. I flew out of the car at top speed making my way over to her.

"Oh God…Adam" I looked at the ground in front of her seeing my baby brother. His left leg was all put torn off at the knee; he had bite marks all over his body. He was drifting in and out of consciousness; occasionally moving and groaning, his face contorted in pain. "What do we do?" my voice sounded different, childlike as I looked to my husband.

"I…I don't know" Jasper crouched down beside Adam getting a better look at his wounds.

"Carlisle will know, first we need to get him home" Edward crouched down next to Jasper as Rosalie pulled her phone out again.

"Wait, no, they're already in the air, they'll be back an hour after we will." I explained as I stood back as Jasper reached down to lift Adam's shoulders.

"He feels warm" Jasper's eyebrows narrowed as felt again.

"He does" Edward concluded, the same puzzled look on his face as was on Jasper's.

"Why would he feel warm?" I reached down and put my hand to his cheek to feel for myself. They were right, he felt remarkably warm, human warm.

"I don't know, hopefully Carlisle will" Edward whispered softly before him and Jasper lifted Adam sitting him in the back of the Volvo. Eva slid into the seat next to him and leaned him back into her lap, holding her hand to his forward and cheek as an attempt to make him more comfortable. His face smoothed slightly as she touched him, if he wasn't hurt so badly I would have felt happier to see him with someone who cared about him that way.

"Hey..hey are you okay?" he pried his eyes open to look at Eva.

"I'm fine" She gave a sad laugh as if she would be crying if she could. Jasper took my hand again and gave it a supportive squeeze as we closed up the doors to the Volvo and Edward took off.

"He's going to be fine" he kissed my temple before putting his arm around my shoulder.

"I can't see him" I admitted softly.

"What?"

"In our futures, I can't see him."

**A/N – Another short one, I know. Classes started today and I was busier than I thought I would be. **


	42. Chapter 40

Adam's Pov

I felt Eva's cool hand on my face again, it felt cooler than it normally did. Edward's car felt like a sauna and I could tell he was driving at an insane speed. My leg was searing in pain, my arms and legs were sore and throbbing. I tried to suppress a scream and managed to stifle it into a pained growl. I opened my eyes slightly as I felt a cold hand on my non-injured leg. "It won't be too much longer Adam" I saw Bella through my clouded eyes; she gave me a worried smile as I relaxed against Eva's cold body. My shoulder felt like it was out of the socket; I blindly reached with my other hand and attempted to relocate it. Pain wrecked my body and consciousness as I failed.

My eyes opened again by force this time, I quickly blinded by a small light. I reached up trying to push the offender away, my hands catching on a rock hard arm that wouldn't budge. My eyes adjusted from the brief blinding and I saw Edward over me with a pen light in his hand. I realize I was lying on mom's dining room table and all of my siblings were around me. "Should we clean the wounds?" I heard Alice's voice, even with it trembling it sounded like music. I lifted my arm again looking at the punctures on my hand that were caked with dirt from the field. I leaned my head back against the pillow that had been under it, I let out a sigh feeling exhausted as I looked at the chandelier above me. The lights began to look they were twinkling for a moment before I let my eyes shut again.

My eyes shot open again as I felt a terrible stinging, I felt multiple sets of cold hands preventing me from thrashing. Edward frowned at me apologetically as he gently dabbed a cotton ball covered with rubbing alcohol over one of my wounds. "He's still burning up" Rosalie's voice filled my ears. I looked straight up at her as I felt her hands on my cheek and forehead. I sighed softly enjoying their coldness.

"Take his temperature again" Edward instructed her as he began to clean a new wound. The hands on my limbs tightened as I thrashed against them a pained growl rumbling in my throat. Once the pain subdued I felt something cool being pushed into my ear, it gave two strange clicks before beeping.

"103.2" Rosalie read off of the thermometers digital screen.

"Damn it, Jasper can you get some ice, I'm sure the fridge has some in it" Jasper looked like he appreciated being sent out of the room. I felt the harsh stinging of rubbing alcohol again; I struggled against the hold my siblings had on me as my vision darkened.

I awoke again shivering; I felt cold bags of what must have been ice around my body. I inhaled sharply and tried to sit up as I felt a sharp pain in my left leg. I opened my eyes seeing my father trying to suture my injury, he frowned as Emmett held my leg still. "Its fine, you're fine" I felt my mother's cool hands running through my hair. Her voice calmed me slightly. I lifted my head slightly seeing that I had been changed into what must have been Emmett's clothing as the shorts came down near my knee.

"Adam, just rest okay?" my mom coaxed softly as she gently pushed my shoulders flat. I stared at lights for an unknown period of time before letting my eyes close. I was physically exhausted which didn't make a lot of sense considering I just fed.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say those bite marks are infected" I heard my dad's voice again, they must think I'm asleep again.

"How would that be possible?" This time it was Edward that spoke.

"I don't know, Adam doesn't respond like a usual vampire. Did you see how easy it was for me to stitch him up, his flesh is as soft as a human's again" my dad sounded troubled as I felt him gently touching around the bite marks on my arm. "What happened exactly?"

"We were lying in the grass after hunting, another vampire ran through the field. I guess he was being chased by the wolves. His eyes were blood red and he took off; the wolves assumed that we were part of his coven and attacked us." Eva explained her voice riddled with sadness. "Adam was trying not to hurt them…"

"Damn hippie" Emmett interrupted but was shushed by Mom.

"He accidently killed one of them and they took advantage of the grief he felt" Eva sighed. Their voices silenced as I drifted out again.


	43. Chapter 41

Carlisle's Pov

I looked at the speedometer under my hands, sighing as it pushed 110. There were no other cars on the road at 4am but I didn't want to push my luck. It had been four days since Adam had been attacked. Edward and I had explored many options over the past 96 hours.

I had forged a few documents at the hospital to get Adam a few pints of O negative that were now in a small cooler on the backseat. I was afraid that we would have to physically force Adam into our next attempt to save him; all of us were uneasy about the idea of giving him human blood. We didn't know what it would do to him; he had never experienced what we consider standard bloodlust and we had no idea how he would react if he did. Jasper was strongly opposed to the idea; he thought the results could be disastrous. Adam was stronger than any newborn when he was in top form. I'm also sure that part of Jasper's uneasiness was coming from Adam, who thought the idea was ludicrous.

Edward was even a little uneasy about the idea; he said Adam was screaming in his head for us not to try it. Adam thought that once he had human blood there would be no coming back for him, he didn't think he would be able to control himself. Esme and I had more faith in him than that. Alice wasn't vocal about her opinion for probably the first time since I've known her. I worry that she's already resigned to the notion that we'll lose Adam, she couldn't see his future and that was standard but she couldn't see him in Eva's future either. Rosalie, Emmett and Bella on the other hand were willing to try anything at all to help Adam get better.

His condition hadn't improved much at all, he was as weak as I ever seen one of our kind. His temperature was near 105 degrees and the bite marks from the werewolves had not yet faded. The flesh around the wounds had been an angry red for days. Edward took a sample yesterday to look at for any sort of clue but the analysis only puzzled us more. He appeared to be completely devoid of venom what-so-ever. Edward, being curious, preformed a full cell breakdown to look if there were any hints at all. The analysis Edward did showed Adam as only having 23 chromosomal pairs now instead of the 25 that we expected. We couldn't tell if the damage was done yet or if there would be more cell deterioration.

I sighed as I pulled up our long driveway; Jasper was waiting outside by the house when I pulled up. "Has something changed?" I asked him the moment I climbed out of the car.

"No…I just….it's tough being in there" Jasper looked at his feet embarrassed. I frowned sympathetically, I was emotionally exhausted; I could only imagine how much worse it was for him.

I nodded. "You may want to stick close by though, we may need you" I didn't even like to think about the possibility of Adam losing control he was always in control of himself, even as a newborn. If he did lose it I don't know how many of us would be able to stop him, I don't think I could, I know Esme wouldn't be able to. It wasn't that I didn't think we could physically stop him, we could, I just don't think any of us have it in us to hurt him if we had to.

"Yeah" Jasper sighed softly, "he was up for a while, wanted a glass of water" That's strange we don't drink water at all. I looked to Jasper hoping for more of an explanation. "Esme gave him one; he drank it down quickly and went back to sleep, or whatever it is he's been doing." I nodded and headed inside. I hated the sight in front of me; we had moved Adam into a hospital bed about a day or so after the attack mainly because in Adam's words "no offense Mom, this dining room table sucks in the lumbar support area." He looked childlike in the bed, his mother on one side and Eva, his new girlfriend according to Alice, on the other. Edward, Emmett and Bella were sitting on the couch while Alice and Rosalie paced around the room.

"You got it?" Emmett asked as Edward got up from his seat.

"Yeah, about 6 quarts" I answered lifting the cooler a little higher to show him.

"That should be enough right?" I nodded even though I had no idea. "Okay, then what are we waiting for?" Emmett stood up and joined Rosalie at the side of the bed, her hand slipping into his instantly.

"Alright, I know I don't need to explain this to you all but be alert, forceful if you have to, we don't know how this is going to work" I waited until everyone nodded in understanding. It took me a moment to prepare the equipment; we were going to do this as if it were a blood transfusion because Adam wouldn't drink it voluntarily.

With all of the moment around the bed Adam began to wake again, he looked around the room disoriented. Esme put her hand to his forehead telling him everything was fine in her most soothing voice. His gaze turned to her but his eyes appeared unfocussed; he gave a weak nod and let his head rest against the pillow before shutting his eyes. I felt a little guilty for being so pleased that he hadn't taken in what we were about to force upon him.

Once everything was ready I closed my eyes trying to imagine that it was someone else I was about to stick this IV into, that it was someone else's child and not mine. I took in a deep unnecessary breath before cleaning a small section of his skin with iodine. The IV slipped into his arm effortlessly, he didn't move one bit. I hooked up the first bag of blood, standard practices were to transfuse one unit over four hours but that was too slow in my opinion so I increased the flow by quite a bit. I watched as everyone else did as the blood made its way down the tube and into his arm.

Adam's eyes shot open instantly and Emmett put a cautionary hand on his shoulder, pinning him to the bed. At first Adam appeared to be in ecstasy but that quickly turned into pain. He thrashed weakly under Emmett's hand. He closed his eyes tightly as he groaned in agony.

"Carlisle this can't be right" Esme's voice filled my ears, she looked to be in about as much pain seeing Adam this way as he was in. She was probably right but I couldn't give up this quickly. I looked to my watch deciding that five minutes would be where I drew the line.

Adam arched his back against the bed and gave a pained scream before collapsing against the bed, a feint thumping being the only noise I could hear. His heart was beating.

**A/N - sorry for the wait, my cable and internet have been down at my apartment, I also live in downtown washington so things are a little crazy here to say the least.**


	44. Chapter 42

Adam's Pov

Every part of my body hurt, parts I didn't even think could hurt were hurting. I felt remarkably warm all of a sudden, I knew I had been physically warm before but I couldn't really feel it. I let out a groan, I had been somewhat successful at hiding my pain over the past few days but this was too much for me. I felt my mother's ice cold hand on my forehead; she really was a lot colder than I was.

"Carlisle, this can't be right" her voice was full of fear and nowhere near as loud as it was before, come to think of it, all of my senses felt dulled, extremely dulled. I opened my eyes slightly I couldn't make everyone out as my vision was blurred.

"No…Carlisle, don't change your mind, I can see him again…just…just keep doing what you were doing" this time it was Alice who spoke. I turned my eyes towards her; feeling relieved as I could make out her face, my vision must have been improving. Her face was the only hopeful one of the lot.

"What's happening to him Carlisle?" Rosalie got up from her seat.

"He's becoming human again" Edward answered. Human again? That didn't make any sense at all, my heart was dead, it had been for 6 years.

"What?" I tried to sit up but my mom pushed me back against the bed. I tried to stifle my pained groan but it hurt too much.

"I'm sorry baby" she apologized instantly as my dad started prodding me, feeling for a pulse. There must have been one because he looked very confused. He darted upstairs and returned a moment later with some medical machine. It didn't take him very long to set it up, he attached some adhesive electrodes to my chest and suddenly an obnoxious beeping filled the room. My heart was beating; there was no question about it.

There was little to no chatter while my dad transfused bag after bag of blood. Edward said something about my heart rate being strong enough for a pain killer, I felt a smile cross my face; his voice had never sounded so nice before. My father must have agreed because he suddenly injected something into my IV. I felt my mom give my hand a gentle squeeze before my eyes shut.

Esme's Pov

Adam's existence has always been miraculous but this was taking it to a whole new level, he was human again. I trusted Edward and my husband when they told me this, his heart was beating and his condition was improving. Even the bite marks the werewolves had left were healing; they were healing much quicker than a standard human's would but I'm not complaining.

"This is certainly something new" Emmett hadn't said a word since Adam's heart had started beating.

"I know I don't need to tell you this but he's going to be a lot more fragile than before" I reminded my son. He nodded as he smiled. Alice stood up with urgency and moved in front of Eva, Edward followed her a half second later. I stood from my seat trying to get a look; Eva's dark menacing eyes caught my attention.

"Get her out of here" I was instantly behind Alice and Edward. Eva looked confused and a bit offended.

"What? I haven't done anything" She defended herself.

"You're about to," Alice looked at her as she nodded looking ashamed of herself. "Jasper will take you hunting" Alice didn't give her a chance to reply before leading her out of the house.

****

I've never appreciated the sun rising so much before in my entire existence, my son wasn't just okay again; he was alive again. His options were limitless now. I smiled as he slept, he looked so peaceful. His wounds had healed entirely in just a few hours, it was nothing short of a miracle; Adam was nothing short of a miracle.

"I don't like the idea of him being with her" Rosalie got up walking anxiously around the room. I couldn't have said it better myself. Eva hadn't returned with Jasper after feeding, he said she had gone home. I sighed and nodded.

"He's going to be really upset" Alice shook her head sadly. "You're not going to have to tell him though, she's gone already" I hated that Adam was losing another person he loved but it was for the best, he would want to be immortal again if she was here with him, I knew him well enough to know that.

My attention shifted as Adam moved in his sleep, "He'll be up in a minute" Alice smirked; she was loving the fact that she could see his future again. "He's going to let me cut his mop" her smile grew if that was even possible.

"I will do no such thing" My head jerked towards him at an inhuman speed. I was surprised by the fact that Adam looked and sounded the same; he kept his musical voice and breathtakingly good looks. His color was the only real difference, he was pink again.

"Will so, I've seen it" Alice's smile turned into a smug one.

"I'm not letting you cut my dreads" Adam shook his head before laughing. "Maybe a trim alright?"

**A/N – So there it is. The end. I may write a sequel if there is a request for one. **


	45. Epilogue

Epilogue

Edward's Pov

Over the past week Carlisle and I ran every test under the sun but they all said the same thing. Adam was fine, he was healthy and most importantly he was human. I didn't really understand it but I had my ideas about what had actually happened. Werewolves are the only thing besides another vampire that could kill us, I thought at first his wounds had been infected but it wasn't a standard infection. Whatever got into his system tore through the additional genes that made us vampires. It left him with his original 23 chromosomes. The blood transfusion we had given him was meant to feed him but it rejuvenated his cells.

We tracked his progress meticulously; he wasn't aging at a rapid rate. He seemed perfectly fine and he said he felt fine. "Mom, can I please go outside with Emmett?" he whined as he walked down the stairs. His hair was a mess he had allowed Alice to cut his dreads short so now they stuck up everywhere.

"Maybe, after you have some breakfast okay sweetheart" Esme smiled at him. She and Carlisle were extremely excited about Adam being human again; they got their baby boy back. Adam didn't necessarily hate the idea but it was strange for him, he was technically a 22 year old stuck in a 16 year old body. He did however hate how fragile he appeared in our eyes though. _It's like living in a bubble. _His thoughts filled my head as he grumbled down the stairs towards the kitchen.

_You'd think with such shorter days this would get easier. _I sighed as he dug through the fridge, he was still upset over the fact that Eva had left. Alice had seen her leaving her house so it wasn't a surprise that when Emmett and Jasper found her home empty. Alice couldn't tell where she had gone though; the places she had seen in her visions had been so nondescript. I wasn't really glad that she was gone because of how much it hurt Adam but maybe if he found a nice human girl his life would become a lot less complicated.

**A/N – Just a little epilogue for you guys I know I didn't explain what exactly had happened to Adam. So yeah keep reviewing, if you want a sequel you may just get one. **


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